Apr. 3—A Kokomo man charged with 20 counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual misconduct with a minor is seeking to have at least part of the charges dismissed.
Geremy Miller, 46, through his attorney Brent Dechert, filed a motion to dismiss late last month, arguing that similar allegations were investigated in 2013 and no charges were ever filed.
Miller was charged and arrested last summer. Prosecutors allege Miller molested two juvenile females multiple times between 2006 and 2012. According to a probable cause affidavit, the two alleged victims got Miller to confess to the crimes on a recorded phone call.
He was originally booked on $1 million cash bond, but that was reduced to $250,000 with 10% allowed; Miller has been out on in-home detention ever since and has pled not guilty to the charges.
According to Dechert’s motion, counts 1-12 are related to Victim 1, who was previously interviewed twice by the Kokomo Police Department and/or an employee with the Indiana Department of Child Services on July 11 and July 18, 2013.
According to Dechert, the audio or video of the interviews have been lost or destroyed and the contents of the interview were “both material and exculpatory evidence which could have been sued by the Defendant (Miller) at trial.”
“The loss of the audio/video recordings violates the Defendant’s due process rights and will prevent a fair trial,” Dechert writes, requesting Howard County Superior Court 1 Judge Matt Elkin to dismiss counts 1-12.
In addition, Dechert argues the state charging Miller with 12 charges that are identical to 12 other charges violates his rights under the double jeopardy clause of the Indiana Constitution and would “lead to confusion with the jury.”
On the same day as the motion to dismiss, Dechert also filed a motion in limine, a motion to suppress/exclude audio recording and motion to release mental health records. The former two are marked private in the court docket, while the latter pertains to the mental health records of the two alleged victims.
In the motion, Dechert argues the court should release the records because “other reasonable means of obtaining the information do not exist” and the “need for disclosure outweighs the potential harm to the patient.”
“Both alleged victims will be the State’s chief witness and their credibility is a central issue in this case,” Dechert wrote. “Both alleged victims have admitted during depositions to discussing the allegations in the charging informations with their respective therapists. The need to discover if they made any prior inconsistent statements is critical.”
On the same day as the defense’s filings, Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Glancy also filed a motion in limine.
In the motion, Glancy requests the court prohibit Miller, Dechert and any witnesses from referencing or bringing up, without first permission from the judge, that Miller conducted a voice stress analysis and the results thereof and the notion that DCS “unsubstantiated” the 2013 sexual abuse allegations made by Victim 1.
A hearing on all but one of the motions was held Howard Superior 1 on March 27. Elkin has taken the requests under advisement, and, as of Tuesday afternoon, had not issued a ruling.
A hearing on the motion to release the mental health records is scheduled for April 26. Miller’s jury trial is scheduled for July 12.
Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.
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