Chainers sentenced to one year in jail
Published 12:54 pm Friday, July 22, 2011
Charity and Bryan Miller are led down the hall of the Jail and Justice Center after being taken into custody Friday. They were sentenced to one year in jail. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
AUSTIN — Brian Miller and Charity Miller, the Dexter couple who chained their 5-year-old son to his crib, have been sentenced to one year in jail and three years supervised probation.
Chains used in the chaining of the Miller children were displayed Friday at the Jail and Justice Center. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The sentence was issued by Mower County District Court Judge Donald Rysavy around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, one day after Mower County District Court Judge Fred Wellmann ruled that the Millers can keep their parental rights.
The couple was taken into custody immediately after sentencing. Brian, 33, was awarded three days of credit for time served; Charity, 26, was awarded four days.
The Millers were sentenced on one count each of gross misdemeanor false imprisonment and one count each of malicious punishment. Minnesota statute allows a maximum punishment of one year in jail for each charge.
Five other charges — including malicious punishment, false imprisonment, endangerment and two counts of neglect — were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
The Millers are accused of chaining one of their sons to his crib from bedtime until morning every night. They reportedly made their two sons, ages 5 and 8, stay in their bedrooms most of the time and weren’t providing sufficient food or bathroom access for the boys. The 5-year-old weighed less than 30 pounds when he and his brother were placed with a foster family in April.
Mower County Attorney Kristen Nelsen gives her thoughts on the Charity and Brian Miller case outcome after they were taken into custody Friday at the Jail and Justice Center. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“My personal observation is, that in 15 plus years as a judge, this is one of about two or three cases where I’ve seen so much potential and actual damage to a child, in this case two children,” Rysavy said during the sentencing hearing. “Mother and father … are not supposed to be jailers and torturers. A home is supposed to be that — not a concentration camp.”
Rysavy called the Millers’ actions “incomprehensible” and said he was “outraged.”
County Attorney Kristen Nelsen commended the school system and local teachers for making their concerns about the Miller boys known.
“There is relief there is some punishment … but the damage has still been done,” Nelsen said after the sentencing. “The behavior was disgusting.”
Nelsen said she would have liked the Millers to be sentenced more harshly with two years in jail, which is the maximum punishment for the charges against them.
“For the next 365 days, these kids will know where their parents are and that they (the kids) are safe,” she said.
