A parolee whose accomplice was killed when they attempted a December 2014 home invasion has been sent back to prison for 30 years on manslaughter, burglary and drug charges.
Steven Ray Miller, 47, of Jacksonville pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated residential burglary and manslaughter in exchange for a 20-year sentence.
Miller's 20-year sentence will run concurrently with a 30-year sentence imposed by a Pulaski County jury on Wednesday after a two-day trial.
The manslaughter charge arose from the fatal shooting of Garrett Douglas Cowsert IV, 25, by the Cabot man whose West Centennial Road home Cowsert and Miller broke into, according to arrest reports.
Miller was arrested a week later at his home, a recreational vehicle parked at 109 Allanwood Drive.
During a search of Miller's RV, investigators found methamphetamine, prescription medication, scales and baggies.
Police also arrested a woman with Miller -- Kayla Vanessa Greer, 29, of Jacksonville. She pleaded guilty to drug charges in June 2016 in exchange for a five-year prison sentence.
Jurors on Wednesday convicted Miller on gun and drug charges stemming from an August 2016 arrest. He had been released again on parole following his arrest in the manslaughter case.
In the 2016 case, Miller and his wife, Mycha Denise Miller, 30, were found with methamphetamine, Ecstasy tablets, scales, syringes and a stolen pistol in their pickup during a traffic stop at the intersection of Eureka Gardens Road and Lee Street in North Little Rock.
A key piece of evidence at the trial was a phone call between the couple recorded while Steven Miller was in jail, which deputy prosecutor Amanda Fields played for the jury.
In the recording, Miller is heard complaining to his wife of four months about how she failed to hide the methamphetamine in her vagina.
Mycha Miller responded by saying she could not accommodate that amount of drugs because of the packaging.
According to an arrest report, the drugs weighed 78.1 grams, about 2¾ ounces.
When he was being booked in the jail, deputies found another 9 grams, about one-third of an ounce, on Steven Miller, arrest reports show.
Court records show Miller has a criminal record dating back to 1987 when he was 17, and that he has been sentenced to prison six times previously on 23 felony convictions, including nine for forgery, four for drug offenses and four for theft.
Metro on 08/15/2017