LAKE COUNTY— Steven Russell Miller was in custody and present by remote appearance for a recent Settlement /Trial Readiness Conference in reference to a case involving the shooting death of Miller’s daughter, Hannah Welch, in Hidden Valley.
During the latest hearing it was reported that the jury trial regarding the not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity pleas on all counts has been vacated and a court trial scheduled for April 6, 2021 at 2:30 p.m. in Department 2.
All parties are to appear via Zoom remote appearance.
A court trial, also called a bench trial, is when all the facts of the case are heard, and a judge makes the final decision about the court case. An offender can waive their rights to a jury trial and just have the judge make the ruling in a bench trial.
A bench trial/court trial is different than a jury trial as a jury trial has a panel of an individual’s peers make the final decision.
Submitted for the court trial will be police reports, preliminary hearing and doctor’s reports.
The People have been ordered to submit filings by March 19, 2021.
Miller faces charges in the shooting death of his daughter, Hannah Welch, in Hidden Valley Lake in May of 2017. In January of 2018, the Lake County Superior Court found sufficient cause to believe him guilty of murder.
In addition to murder, Miller faces a charge of exhibiting a weapon.
Last year both Counsel were present via remote appearance for a Doctor’s Report Hearing. They were in receipt of a mental evaluation report from Dr. J. Reid McKellar for the purposes of determining the defendant’s competency.
The Court had read and considered the most recent doctor’s report and found that the defendant is now competent to stand trial.
In early 2018, the alleged murderer entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity on all counts, denying the special allegations.
In May of 2018 there was a review of mental evaluation doctor’s reports from three other doctors, which were all marked into evidence at that time. The reports were read and considered and the Court found the defendant was incompetent at that time to stand trial and not able to understand the criminal proceedings or assist counsel in a rational manner.
During a previous hearing and based on the totality of the three reports in the Court’s file, the Court found that the Defense has failed to meet its burden that the defendant remains incompetent.
In March of 2018 the Court found substantial evidence that Miller was mentally incompetent and the Court ordered that all criminal proceedings be suspended until the defendant is restored to mental competency.
The Court received the placement recommendation from CONREP (Department of State Hospital’s Conditional Release Program). CONREP is a statewide system of community based services treating patients diagnosed with mental incompetency.
The defendant was committed to the State Department of State Hospitals or a Jail Based Competency Treatment Program (JBCT Program) and he was delivered by the Sheriff of Lake County to a state hospital or a JBCT Program as directed by the State Department of State Hospitals.
Now that the Court declares the defendant to be mentally competent, he is ordered to be personally present (this includes via remote appearance) on all of the recently scheduled court dates.
