Appeals Court Overturns Sex Ring Conviction New Trial Ordered For Woman Whose Confession Sparked Many Charges In Wenatchee Case
A state appeals court has reversed one of the most widely publicized of the Wenatchee child sex rings convictions, even though it found that evidence indicated the molestations did occur.
Spokane-based Division Three of the appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Linda Joyce Miller, who was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 1995 after being convicted of eight counts of child molestation.
The appeals court found three procedural errors in the 1995 trial conducted by Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. Small.
“Even if the errors we identify here were not serious enough to warrant reversal, their cumulative effect certainly would justify a new trial,” the ruling said.
Chelan County Deputy Prosecutor Roy Fore said his office was shocked by the ruling and will ask the state Supreme Court to review the decision.
He said if the Supreme Court does not review the case, he will retry Miller.
“We obviously disagree with the appellate court in this issue,” Fore told the Wenatchee World. “Given that this was an eight-day trial with 38 witnesses and a jury, I don’t believe these issues, even if they were errors, could have affected the verdict.”
In 1994 and 1995, 28 Wenatchee-area people were charged with child rape or molestation in the sex-ring investigation. Fourteen pleaded guilty, five were convicted and charges were dismissed or greatly reduced against six others. Three people were acquitted.
Many of the later charges stemmed from the six-page confession signed by Miller in March 1995.
Her confession led to charges of child sex abuse filed against unordained minister Roby Roberson, his wife, Connie, and Sunday school teacher Honnah Sims. All three were acquitted by juries.
Auburn attorney Robert Van Siclen, who defended the Robersons and Sims, said Wednesday that the reversal of Miller’s conviction has no direct effect on what happens to others identified by Miller’s confession who were sentenced from the Wenatchee investigation.
“Ultimately, all cases stand or fall on their own merits. But if her confession played a part in those later convictions, then the court’s decision may well have a big effect,” Van Siclen said.
Miller, 38, has been in the Purdy Correctional Center for Women in Gig Harbor since her sentencing in November 1995.
Miller was arrested on March 24, 1995, in Tonasket. She was returned to Wenatchee and questioned through the night by Wenatchee police Detective Robert Perez, lead investigator in the sex ring case.
She eventually signed a confession, drafted by Perez, in which she detailed her involvement and actions by others in child sex abuse over a period of years.
Three girls, including one of her daughters, testified at trial that Miller molested them. One of Miller’s daughters testified she was not molested, and had not seen her mother molest other girls.
Medical evidence showed the girls had signs of sexual penetration.
Miller contends the confession was coerced because on the day of her arrest, she was locked up without food or sleep, was interrogated through the night, and signed the document only when she was threatened with never seeing her children again.
The appeals court ruled that her statement was voluntary. But it found other rulings by Judge Small had denied her a fair trial.
It said the judge should have permitted a psychiatrist to testify during the trial on how and why her confession could have produced false statements. Small had decided he could not testify.
Small also refused to allow the testimony of witness Bob Devereaux, a former foster parent named in Miller’s confession. Devereaux testified that he had been charged with sex abuse crimes, but the charges were dismissed. Small ordered the jury to disregard the answer.
Finally, the appeals court decided that Small had allowed prosecutors to raise doubts about the testimony of Miller’s 12-1/2-year-old daughter, one of the alleged victims.
The appeals court said the way Miller’s daughter was impeached on cross-examination by prosecutors created potential prejudice in jurors’ minds.
xxxx STICKING POINTS The appeals court said the trial judge should have: Permitted a psychiatrist to testify on how and why her confession could have produced false statements. Allowed the testimony of a witness named in her confession. Stopped prosecutors from raising doubts about the testimony of Miller’s daughter.