23-year sentence follows a lifetime of trouble, murder of Marysville senior

Published 10:32 pm Thursday, August 20, 2009

EVERETT — Mental health professionals who tried to help Ryan Miller over the years worried he would hurt someone someday.

Miller, 22, has been in and out of hospitals, group homes and shelters since he was a boy. He is developmentally disabled and is easily swayed by others in his desperate search to make friends, court records show.

He becomes violent when he skips taking his medication and uses illegal drugs.

“Mr. Miller is viewed as extremely impulsive, had an extensive history of behavioral aggression and suicide attempts, and staff have felt that it was just a matter of time before he seriously injures someone,” according to 2007 psychiatric evaluation done at Western State Hospital.

Miller on Thursday was sentenced to more than 23 years in prison for the beating death of Shirley Sweeton, 73.

Sweeton was attacked with a hammer in her Marysville home June 5 during a burglary. Her sister found her body the next day.

Miller and co-defendant Joshua Gilliam, 25, were stopped a few days later in Missouri in Sweeton’s car. Miller quickly confessed to doing “something we should not have done.” He admitted hitting Sweeton with a hammer.

Miller pleaded guilty July 23 after the court was convinced that his mental illness was not so severe that it limited his ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts or to participate in making decisions about his defense. His plea came less than two months after he was charged with first-degree murder.

Milller has confessed to anyone who will listen, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Janice Albert said. She called his confession “a cry of remorse.”

Miller’s remorse, however, doesn’t change that he committed a “heinous, premeditated crime,” Albert said. He went to Sweeton’s home with someone he knew intended to hurt the Marysville grandmother, the deputy prosecutor said.

Albert recommended a 23-year sentence, saying that Sweeton was a wonderful person who is deeply missed by her family and even the strangers she touched with her kindness.

Sweeton’s family filled the courtroom Thursday. They declined to speak. Instead they provided Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz photographs of Sweeton and letters encouraging the judge to send Miller to prison for as long as possible.

Miller’s attorney Natalie Tarantino, a longtime Snohomish County public defender, asked the judge for leniency. Miller had no prior felony convictions and quickly took responsibility for his actions. She asked for a 20-year sentence, the mandatory minimum under the law.

“The guilt and remorse for what he did that night is overwhelming,” she said.

Tarantino also asked Kurtz to take into account Miller’s developmental disabilities, which made him particularly vulnerable to bad influences, she said.

Miller met co-defendant Gilliam at a men’s shelter in Everett. Both were clients at Compass Health.

Court records indicate that Miller was diagnosed with mental health problems as a young boy. He left school after the second grade.

Mental health professionals and community corrections officers voiced concerns that Miller would be a risk to community safety. They warned he was dangerous when he didn’t take his medications, that he used illegal drugs and had no structure in his life, court records said.

Miller let his attorney do the talking for him Thursday.

The judge said Sweeton was a wonderful person and the loss to her friends and family is immeasurable.

Kurtz said he considered Miller’s lack of prior felony convictions, as well as his mental health issues and willingness to accept responsibility. Kurtz also said he couldn’t ignore Miller’s prior misdemeanor convictions or the gravity of the crime.

“To participate in the brutal beating of a 73-year-old woman is utterly reprehensible,” Kurtz said.

Miller had never met Sweeton. Prosecutors believe he went to her home with Gilliam, whom he’d only known for a short time.

Gilliam once lived with Sweeton while dating her granddaughter, who also struggles with mental health challenges. Sweeton filed a protection order against Gilliam on behalf of her granddaughter. She accused him of coercing her granddaughter into giving him money to buy drugs. Sweeton also told the judge she was afraid of Gilliam.

Gilliam recently was found competent to stand trial. His trial is scheduled for Oct. 30.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.