MILLER v. STATE (2020)

ORDER

Following a bench trial in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, Roy Miller was convicted of the class A felony of abuse of a child resulting in death pursuant to § 568.060.5(2), RSMo. The circuit court sentenced Miller as a prior and persistent offender to life imprisonment. After this Court affirmed Miller's conviction on direct appeal, he sought post-conviction relief under Supreme Court Rule 29.15. The circuit court denied relief after an evidentiary hearing. Miller appeals. He claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for: (1) failing to move to suppress statements Miller made following his arrest, on the basis that the statements were coerced by the police's threats against the woman with whom Miller was romantically involved; (2) failing to impeach a jailhouse-informant with an electronic communication the informant made to jail staff offering to testify against Miller in exchange for a benefit to himself; and (3) failing to cross-examine a forensic pathologist about the possibility that a single short fall from a caretaker's arms could have caused the child's death. We affirm. Because a published opinion would have no precedential value, we have provided an unpublished memorandum to the parties which sets forth the reasons for this order. Rule 84.16(b).

PER CURIAM: