Tyler Miller, 16, Perrysburg, has been sentenced by Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in the Nov. 29 stabbing death of Amonie Ervin, 19.
Miller had been indicted in December by the Wood County Grand Jury on a charge of aggravated murder. Previously, Miller had been bound over by the Wood County Juvenile Court to be prosecuted as an adult.
According to Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson, aggravated murder is an unclassified felony which subjects the offender to life without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole after 20, 25 or 30 years.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a trial court can only sentence a juvenile to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in the rarest of circumstances when, from the facts and information before it, the court determines that the defendant is “irreparably corrupt.”
In sentencing Miller, Mayberry went into detail about the offense committed by Miller, reports the judge had reviewed related to Miller’s mental health, and the pre-sentence report prepared by the Wood County Adult Probation Department.
Mayberry agreed with Dobson’s statements that Miller had demonstrated a history of wanting to kill a person, had planned and executed the plan to kill Ervin, and showed no remorse for the act. He quoted a note from an attending psychiatrist, who said that Miller had “aggressive behaviors which will not change with any treatment we could offer.”
The judge told Miller, “I have looked and looked to find some shred of remorse that you might have for this and can find nothing.”
The judge stated several times that he was taking Miller’s age into account as a mitigating factor, but that the balance of the information led him to conclude that Miller would not be rehabilitated.
“There is no resolution to this case which makes this tragedy any less painful,” Dobson said. “For no reason, this world has lost two teenagers. In speaking with the family of Amonie, they are pleased that justice was served. And they are glad the public will be safe from Mr. Miller. But we all recognize that Mr. Miller’s incarceration does not satisfy the loss of all that Amonie was to his friends and family.”
Miller is currently being housed at the Wood County Justice Center, and will remain there until he is transferred to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
