Store Operator Convicted Miller Found Guilty Of Detaining Family, Illegally Displaying Gun

A jury decided Tuesday that store operator Loren Miller went too far in pursuit of shoplifters when he mistakenly flagged down a family of innocent motorists and pulled a gun on them late at night.

“This happened in 1996, not 1896,” Deputy Prosecutor Mike Carbone said in his closing argument. “You don’t just call out the posse and go chasing after people.”

The Pend Oreille County District Court jury of four men and two women took two hours and 45 minutes to convict Miller, 51, of illegally displaying a firearm and detaining a Republic, Wash., family as they drove through the county at night.

Miller could get up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine when Judge Chuck Baechler sentences him March 12. Until then, the defendant remains free without bail.

Steve and Joy Russ and their 11-year-old son, Joe, apparently were passing by Miller’s convenience store at Tiger last March about the time two youths in baggy pants shoplifted a couple of cases of beer and fled in a blue low-rider pickup.

Tiger is an isolated collection of buildings at the junction of state Highways 20 and 31 - four miles south of Ione and 51 miles north of Newport. Miller testified he was across the road from the store at his ex-wife’s house, where he lives, when their daughter called to say the store had been robbed. Hearing only that the thieves were headed south on Highway 20 in a “blue Chevy,” he jumped in his Chevrolet Suburban to search for them.

The thieves were never caught, but Miller spotted a white Chevrolet Blazer with a blue stripe across the back about eight miles south of the store. He flashed his headlights and turn signals to pull it over.

Some jurors had tears in their eyes during the two-day trial when Joe Russ, now 12, told how scared he was when Miller pointed a rifle at his family.

“I was just terrified,” Russ said, “not really for myself but for my family and my mom. She was in the front seat and just bawling.”

The boy said he’s glad his father ignored his pleas at the time to “drive away.”

The family was headed to Schweitzer Mountain at Sandpoint for a weekend of skiing when Miller roared up from behind.

Steve Russ said he pulled over because he thought there might have been an emergency and the pursuer might be a police officer. Then, he said, Miller pointed a rifle at him and repeatedly ordered him to get out of his car.

“As soon as I saw the gun, I couldn’t pull away,” Russ said. “I didn’t know what to do. My son was in the back and my wife was hysterical.”

Public Defender Tim Trageser hammered away at discrepancies in the victims’ description of how Miller was holding his rifle, but all three said they had no doubt Miller pointed the weapon at their vehicle.

“My thought was that it was somebody gunning us down and we were all going to be killed,” Joy Russ testified.

The Russes said Miller turned his gun away from them after realizing he had stopped the wrong car. Miller jotted down Steve Russ’ name and license number and let the family go.

Miller testified that his .22-caliber rifle was unloaded, even though he said he thought the thieves he was chasing might be dangerous. He denied pointing the gun at the Russes.

Trageser argued Miller was acting under a state law that allows shopkeepers to detain suspected thieves. But the public defender represented Miller because Miller claimed he doesn’t own the store or anything else.

Miller is a defendant in two pending Superior Court lawsuits involving disputed land transactions. In one case, plaintiff’s attorney Jerry Kagele said Miller’s divorce from his ex-wife, Rachel Smith, appears to exist “only on paper.”

Kagele said the couple lived together throughout 1993 and were joint owners of the Cusick Tavern. He said they also had a joint bank account and together operated a real estate agency called Big Valley Land Co.

Miller was accused of failing to tell some of his clients that an offer for their property came from his spouse and business partner, or that there were other offers.

In 1995, Miller forfeited $252 bail on charges that he violated state hunting regulations and had a loaded gun in his vehicle.

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