Press "Enter" to skip to content

City man found not guilty of attempted capital murder of police officer

A Charlottesville man was found not guilty Wednesday of attempted capital murder of a city policeman in 2018, but was convicted on six charges of shooting in an occupied dwelling.

A Charlottesville Circuit Court jury recommended a total sentence of 12 years for Timothy Lamont Miles, 29; five years on one count of shooting in a building, two years on each of two other counts and one year on each of three other counts.

Miles was charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting of Charlottesville Police Cpl. Chris Huber as Huber stood in Miles’ kitchen in a home on Hardy Drive on Sept. 8, 2018. Testimony showed Miles fired six shots from a bright-orange 9mm semi-automatic in the officer’s direction, hitting him once in the protective vest.

Huber fired five shots at Miles, striking him once in the abdomen and once in the pelvis.

According to testimony, Miles had been drinking that night – his blood alcohol content was estimated to be near .22 – and he did not follow orders from Huber to get on the ground, but turned his left shoulder toward the policeman. That’s when Huber drew his weapon. Shots rang out when Huber saw Miles’ brightly-colored pistol, although neither Huber nor Miles, other police officers nor police body camera footage could determine who fired first.

When the firing ceased, Huber was bruised and Miles was on the floor, bleeding.

While prosecutors said that Miles wanted to kill Huber, the defense insisted that was never Miles’ intent.

Before the jury retired to consider sentencing, Huber told the panel he feels lucky that he reconsidered his inclination to not wear his bulletproof vest that day because he was in plainclothes. He said he thinks about the events every day.

“I don’t go out in public anymore, I just go home. I don’t sleep. I push away the people who mean the most to me,” he told the jury. “This has made me question my choice of profession as a police officer, something I felt I was called to.”

Huber said the events pop into his mind when driving to work and randomly, as well.

“I can just be driving into work and it will pop into my head,” he said, “but there are times when it comes from nowhere when I’m in with my niece or nephews. Something just brings it up and I withdraw from them. I can see the hurt in their faces.”

Miles told the jury that he accepts responsibility for his actions that night.

“I take responsibility for the things I did, for having the gun, being drunk and not doing what he told me to do,” Miles said. “I fully understand while Cpl. Huber shot me. I don’t fault him at all.”

Miles will appear before Judge Daniel R. Bouton on July 28 for his final sentencing. Bouton may impose the jury’s sentence, reduce it or decide if the sentences should run consecutively or all be served at once.

Besides attempted capital murder and the shooting charges, Miles was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun. That charge is still pending.

Source: www.dailyprogress.com

Be First to Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *