Can a homicide case rewrite how a courtroom decides who’s harmless and responsible? In Snapped‘s explosive 20th anniversary special in regards to the notorious Sharee Miller case, the prosecutors and investigators argue it might.
The homicide of Sharee’s husband, Bruce Miller, by former Kansas Metropolis police lieutenant Jerry Cassaday shocked town of Flint, Michigan — and finally the nation as Sharee’s trial performed out publicly on tv in 2000. The trial finally prompted a sea change in how individuals seen the web and what proof may very well be admissible in courtroom.
What occurred to Bruce Miller?
In late 1998, Bruce Miller was a “quiet” two-time divorcée wanting ahead to retirement. The NASCAR fan had opened a salvage yard in Flint, Michigan, and considered one of his first hires was a “vivacious and charming” 26-year-old bookkeeper named Sharee, who had a facet hustle as a Mary Kay Cosmetics salesperson. The 20-year-age hole and boss-employee relationship didn’t cease them from courting, and by April 1999, the 2 have been married, each bringing youngsters from earlier marriages into the connection.
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Simply seven months later, in November 1999, Bruce’s brother and sister-in-law would discover him fatally shot within the chest, mendacity in a pool of his personal blood behind the counter at his salvage yard.
Sharee Miller’s on-line affairs
A couple of months into their marriage, Sharee had met a person named Jerry Cassaday in an AOL chat room.
Cassaday was nonetheless reeling from the demise of his profession and marriage after they struck up a friendship on-line. He had been a lieutenant within the Kansas Metropolis police power answerable for homicides with a spouse and child, however “then life type of hit him. He fell at work and at that time acquired hooked on prescription medicine,” remarked retired Sherriff’s Detective Lieutenant Kevin Shanlian on Snapped. After clashing with a strong sheriff and shedding his job, Cassaday spiraled downward and finally relocated to Reno, Nevada, to work at a on line casino.
By the point Sharee met him, “he was ripe for the selecting,” stated his co-worker Carol Slaughter.
Their “immediate messages” — much like texts at the moment — shortly turned steamy, and Sharee despatched him nude images and racy messages. Her display screen names included “simply scorching to see you,” “horney7249,” “iwanttobelaid,” “lovemeslowly,” and “sexykitten4onlyu.”
Cassaday would typically log out: “your idiot for all times, large daddy.”
Their relationship went from “digital” to actual life after Sharee visited Cassaday in Reno underneath the pretense of a Mary Kay Cosmetics enterprise journey, the place, in line with Cassaday’s pals, she talked a few future and went house-shopping with him.
“They have been like youngsters taking part in, constructing this relationship, having a ball,” stated Jim Kiertzner, a former reporter for native station, WNEM-TV.
“It was loopy that an individual 800 miles away had been talked into developing right here, committing a homicide, going again, and leaving no proof,” added Shanlian. “How did she get him to commit this homicide?”
Cassaday was certainly a “idiot” for Sharee, as he believed her elaborate lies. She claimed her husband was abusive and despatched him images of bruises that detectives on Snapped speculate have been painted on with cosmetics. She additionally claimed to be pregnant with Cassaday’s baby, exhibiting him sonograms that have been 5 and 6 years previous from her earlier kids. And he fell for the largest lie of all: that she had suffered a “miscarriage” after Bruce kicked her within the abdomen.
“That was a part of her recreation taking part in on Jerry’s feelings, to get him to do what she wanted and wished him to do,” stated Kiertzner.
How was Sharee Miler caught?
When police first found Bruce Miller’s physique, there have been only a few clues to the frilly plot.
“Simply on the face, it had all of the earmarks of an armed theft,” stated Shanlian on Snapped. Bruce was identified to hold $2,000 in his shirt pocket to purchase numerous automobile components.
“Cash was lacking, his pockets was lacking,” he stated.
When police spoke with Sharee, she pointed the finger at a former co-worker, John Hutchinson. She had an affair with Hutchison earlier than marrying Miller, and she or he claimed there was nonetheless “dangerous blood” between the 2 males.
“She additionally stated John borrowed two grand from Bruce and was gradual to repay. Additionally, there had been some thefts and a VIN-switching investigation on the auto yard, and John was the police’s major suspect. [Our] idea was that perhaps Bruce was about to name the police and switch him in,” remembered Michael Compeau, retired Genesee County Police Captain.
Sharee had an alibi for the homicide, and Hutchison had failed a polygraph take a look at. The police felt that the case was almost solved — till a shock fell into their laps.
In February 2000, the police obtained a name from a Missouri legal professional saying he may need some proof. Cassaday had died from suicide by gunshot wound to the pinnacle and left a be aware telling his legal professional to go to the police with a briefcase filled with damning data, together with printouts of the racy messages and a pc laborious drive. Investigators additionally discovered instructions to the Flint salvage yard and particular directions from Sharee, together with: “Simply do it and get the hell out of there.”
Prosecutor Marcie Mabry instructed Snapped, “There have been three letters with the briefcase: one to his organic son, one to his ex-wife, and one was to his mom and father. The one to his mom and father detailed why he was doing what he was doing.”
Investigators believed there was now sufficient proof to convict Sharee.
“As a former investigator himself, he had every thing laid out completely. That briefcase was a treasure trove of data,” stated Kiertzner.
When authorities searched the home the place Cassaday died by suicide, additionally they discovered two incriminating VHS tapes within the rubbish, one labeled “For Jerry’s Eye’s Solely,” that supplied extra proof of a sexual connection between the 2.
Sharee Miller is arrested
Within the audio performed on Snapped, you may hear Sharee’s hubris as she denied any involvement with Cassaday. Nonetheless, because the police introduced her with proof, one piece at a time, she started to backtrack and finally admited to a relationship with Cassaday. She claimed he was obsessed along with her, and the tape was blackmail. She additionally stated the chat had been hacked, and the sentences had been modified — a narrative she would stick with by the trial.
After her husband’s loss of life, Sharee had dropped Cassaday “like a scorching potato” and was dwelling with a brand new boyfriend, which can have prompted him to fill the briefcase with proof earlier than his suicide.
“I believe she would have gotten away with it if she had not dumped her boyfriend a month later,” stated Ives Potrafka, a Sheriff’s Sergeant who labored the case.
The primary “Web Homicide” trial
Sharee Miller’s trial started airing nationwide on Courtroom TV in December 2000 and captivated the general public as the primary “web homicide” case. However with the confessed gunman lifeless, it was a circumstantial case that hinged on know-how unfamiliar to individuals within the courtroom. Even the prosecutor, Marcie Mabry, admitted to Snapped that earlier than this case, she had by no means been on a pc.
With Sharee contending that the chat had been hacked, Mabry had her work minimize out for her. “Months and months of each day emails” needed to be cross-referenced and fact-checked, and the prosecution even introduced in an AOL rep to assist.
Investigators thought that they had a motive: Sharee was set to obtain a large Social Safety sum and a life insurance coverage payout upon her husband’s loss of life. However the one factor connecting Sharee to the homicide within the eyes of the courtroom was the web, and issues regarded shaky.
However when Sharee took the stand towards her lawyer’s recommendation, every thing fell aside. In keeping with prosecutors, when she replied “sure” to the query, “Are all of the displays true?” her destiny was modified without end.
Jury foreman Michael Thorp mirrored on that pivotal second to Snapped, saying, “As soon as once more, that means her hubris. She thought she might get anybody to consider her. She thought she was going to promote that entire jury on her little harmless act.”
On December 22, 2000, Sharee was convicted of 2nd-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit 1st-degree homicide and sentenced to life with out parole.
Sharee Miller featured on Snapped in 2005
4 years after the trial, Sharee’s story aired on Snapped in 2005, and it drew the eye of a fan of the present, who then pursued a relationship along with her. Snapped caught up with Michael Denoyer for the anniversary particular, and he spoke about Sharee’s pull on him after watching the present.
“I watched a whole lot of Snapped, and Sharee Miller got here on. It was one thing in her eyes or voice. I assumed she was harmless. She regarded lonely and unhappy,” he stated,
Denoyer struck up a pen-pal correspondence with Miller in jail, and a romance shortly developed. The 2 turned engaged, however Denoyer claimed on Snapped that she was as much as her usual tips.
In July 2009, Sharee’s conviction was appealed on grounds that proof from Cassaday and his suicide shouldn’t have been admitted at trial and was prejudicial to the jury. There was one other ruling that she ought to get a brand new trial — and as quickly as she was launched, she dumped Denoyer, simply as she allegedly dumped Cassaday.
“Bells went off in my head… I used to be incorrect. Every part was about cash and intercourse, and I wasn’t good sufficient to select up on it,” Denoyer stated, including that he finally burned all of their letters.
In the end, prosecutors appealed the decide’s determination to order a brand new trial, and she or he was despatched again to jail along with her unique sentence reinstated.
She lastly admitted in a “jaw-dropping” letter to the decide that she wished Cassaday to homicide her husband. The motive? Native reporter Kiertzner instructed Snapped she feared he would discover out about her affair and divorce her, leaving her “excessive and dry” with no cash.
Sharee Miller is now serving out her sentence on the Huron Valley Girls’s Jail in Michigan.