MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The perpetrator in a 2015 assassination attempt is back in prison.
Adam Miller accepted a plea deal from Mobile County prosecutors in 2019, admitting to the fatal shooting of Ke’lei Morris and agreeing to testify against co-defendant Steven Mason in exchange for a 20-year split sentence , which included three years behind bars and probation.
But Miller’s luck came with an important caveat. After three years in prison, he had to fulfill the conditions of probation. Prosecutors charged him with breaking that promise during a domestic disturbance at his home in July.
The maximum sentence on the charges of domestic violence and molestation is only one year, but because of that arrest, Mobile County District Judge Jay York last week revoked Miller’s probation and ordered him to serve the full 20 years on the murder charge.
Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Lauren Walsh said Miller’s testimony was critical in securing a murder conviction for Mason, who is serving life in prison with no possibility of parole. However, she added that prosecutors had zero tolerance for another violent transgression.
“It’s good justice for the family of Ke’lei Morris that he killed and confessed as part of his settlement,” said Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Lauren Walsh. “We claim that this is for the sake of justice.”
Mobile police responded to a call from Miller’s wife and arrested him. The indictment is pending at the Mobile District Court. He is due to be indicted on those charges next month.
Walsh said Miller’s wife was a reluctant witness who downplayed the alleged incident. But she said she provided body cam footage of the responding officer, which showed the woman had been telling police at the time Miller pushed her.
“It was a particularly egregious case that he was on parole for,” she said. “And now we see him committing violence against another woman, and that’s obviously more than appropriate for a full recant in this case.”
The recantation was praised by Mason’s wife, April Mason, who married him after he went to prison and has maintained his innocence.
“There’s nothing we can do to go back,” she told FOX10 News. “But that he (Miller) only gets three years, that’s not fair to me.
Aside from Mason’s belief that her husband is innocent, she said basic fairness dictates just punishment for the offense.
“They both should have gotten the same verdict,” she said.
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