Man sentenced for meth already served time for murder

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Miller

Updated: February 29, 2012 8:07AM

VALPARAISO — Manufacturing methamphetamine in the woods south of U.S. 30 isn’t the worst thing done by a man sentenced on Friday to three years in prison.

Years before Dinzel Miller, 58, came to Porter County and eventually wandered it, homeless, he faced the death penalty for the molestation and murder of a 2-year-old girl.

Miller already has 147 days of credit toward his three-year sentence for the time he spent in Porter County Jail, and if his sentence is cut by half for good behavior, he may serve only 400 more days.

Police records indicate that Miller killed the girl in July 1981, when he was 27, in a DeMotte-area trailer park after molesting her. He served only 28 years of what became a 60-year sentence after he appealed and won a reprieve from the death sentence.

It was unclear whether Miller received half time for good behavior or reduced time by taking classes and improvement programs, although a combination is likely.

The trial was moved from Jasper County to LaPorte Superior Court, where a jury found Miller guilty on Feb. 14, 1982, “of murder while committing or attempting to commit child molesting or criminal deviate conduct,” according to county court records.

The jury recommended the death penalty. However, Miller appealed for post-conviction relief in May 1982, which apparently led to the removal of the death penalty.

After being released in 2009, Miller came to Porter County and had a Hebron address. He was soon charged with two misdemeanors, intimidation and criminal trespass. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in September 2009, Porter County Courts records state, and from there he went on probation.

In February 2010, he was found guilty of misdemeanor resisting law enforcement in Porter County.

Miller didn’t face any felony charges again until September 2011, after a woman walked into Admiral gas station on U.S. 30 and told the attendant that two men were cooking methamphetamine in the woods south of the station.

Police searched Miller and Matthew Benton Puskac, 27, on Sept. 3, finding the items needed to make methamphetamine in a backpack Miller carried.

They were each charged with Class B felony aiding in the manufacture of methamphetamine and faced six to 20 years in prison, but Miller pleaded guilty Dec. 9 to Class D felony possession of precursors.

As part of his sentence, he is required to testify against Puskac, who is next in court Feb. 3 and scheduled for trial March 5.