Harry Miller pleaded guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, the victim was his neighbor

A former south coast resident avoided his long-awaited jury trial that was scheduled to commence this coming Monday by pleading guilty Thursday afternoon in the Mendocino County Superior Court.

Defendant Harry William Miller, age 70, formerly of Anchor Bay (now of Santa Rosa), entered a guilty plea to attempted voluntary manslaughter for the March 2018 shooting of his neighbor. He also admitted a sentencing enhancement that he personally used a firearm in the commission of the attempted killing.

On the spectrum of attempted homicides, this offense lies somewhere in between the attempted killing of another with malice aforethought (aka murder) and the excusable, justified, or privileged attempted taking of life that does not constitute a crime, such as some instances of self-defense.

Attempted voluntary manslaughter requires that the perpetrator harbor a specific and unlawful intent to kill another person at the time of the attempt.

Defendant Miller also plead guilty to a felony assault with a firearm on the wife of the neighbor. He also admitted the sentencing enhancement under that count that he personally used a firearm in the commission of that separate offense.

Aside from planned witness testimony, the video evidence that would have been shown to a jury was that the defendant gut-shot his neighbor at point-blank range over the placement of a small gravel pile on a shared roadway. He then attempted to shoot -- but missed several times -- the neighbor's wife.

Based on the guilty pleas and admissions entered, defendant Miller is looking at a state prison exposure of 17 years, 10 months.

The defense gave notice that the defendant would be making an application for probation at the sentencing hearing; the prosecutor was clear that he would be arguing for a maximum state prison sentence.

Following the Court's acceptance of the defendant's guilty pleas and admissions, the defendant's case was referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation. The formal sentencing hearing is now calendared for August 2, 2019 at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department H of the Ukiah courthouse.

Any person interested in this case and/or the sentencing outcome is welcome to attend that hearing.

The prosecutor handling this case has been and will continue to be District Attorney David Eyster.

The investigating law enforcement agency that gathered the evidence necessary to conduct this prosecution was primarily the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the Santa Rosa Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, and the District Attorney's own investigators.

Special thanks are also extended to the Stutchman Forensic Laboratory in Napa for their audio and video enhancement work on exhibits that were going to be used by the prosecutor at trial.