Brittany Miles

Case overview

Brittany Miles was convicted of first-degree felony murder after a fatal collision involving motorcyclist Henry McCain. Prosecutors charged Miles with first-degree felony murder because the death occurred while she was escaping from a DUI arrest. Under Florida law, the prosecutors argued that someone was guilty of that type of murder if a death occurred while the person was committing a felony such as escape.

Timeline

• May 10, 2011 — Brittany Miles was arrested on a DUI charge in Hudson after being stopped by Pasco County sheriff's Deputy Ashley Grady; Miles escaped, leading to a chase and a crash in Hernando County that killed motorcyclist Henry McCain.
• December 4, 2012 — Circuit Judge Michael Andrews sentenced Miles to 15 years in prison after her Pasco convictions for battery on a law enforcement officer, escape, fleeing and eluding, and DUI.
• November 12, 2012 — In Pasco County, Miles faced charges that included felony attempted murder, escape, fleeing law enforcement and DUI; trial proceedings included opening statements from Aaron Delgado and statements by Assistant State Attorney Vin Petty.
• March 5, 2013 — In Hernando County Circuit Court, a lawyer in Brittany Miles’ murder trial argued that a first-degree charge was not justified and that the facts warranted a third-degree charge; Judge Daniel B. Merritt Jr. asked Miles about conceding and denied a defense motion to dismiss aggravated fleeing or eluding.
• March 6, 2013 — A Florida Highway Patrol collision investigator testified about the speed and physical evidence at the crash scene; the defense and prosecution addressed the basis for first-degree felony murder.
• March 7, 2013 — A jury convicted Miles of first-degree felony murder after deliberating for about 90 minutes, and Circuit Judge Daniel B. Merritt Jr. sentenced her to life in prison with no chance of parole.

The offence

On May 10, 2011, Brittany Miles drove a Dodge Ram pickup through a busy intersection at the Pasco-Hernando line and slammed into motorcyclist Henry McCain. McCain was killed instantly while he was on his way to meet friends in Hudson and was killed while trying to turn south onto U.S. 19.

Miles was also charged in Hernando County with aggravated fleeing to elude law enforcement.

Investigation

Florida Highway Patrol Cpl. Vincent Parnell testified about the crash. He testified that Miles’ Dodge Ram was traveling at least 66 mph when it slammed into Henry McCain and his Suzuki the morning of May 10, 2011, and that McCain died at the scene. Parnell also testified about physical details including that the truck hit McCain about 20 feet north of the Hernando-Pasco line, the motorcycle slid north leaving gouge marks on the pavement, and McCain’s leg severed as McCain flew into the air. Parnell testified that one of the Ram’s tires left a 98-foot-long skid mark before the truck careened into the grass of the east shoulder and struck a road sign and a concrete culvert, and that at least one tire was flat when the truck swerved back onto the highway. Parnell testified that the Ram stopped nearly a mile north of the crash site, that the front grill was gone, the right front tire shredded, and that both airbags deployed.

A traffic homicide investigator testified that the speed at impact was at least a minimum speed of 66 mph.

Arrest and escape

Pasco County sheriff's Deputy Ashley Grady stopped Brittany Miles on U.S. 19 in Hudson about 7:30 a.m. Miles quickly moved eight or nine Xanax pills from her purse to her underwear. She told Grady she was taking the drug for anxiety but she did not have a prescription. Miles failed sobriety tests and was arrested.

While in the back of Grady’s patrol car, Miles slipped her right hand out of one of the handcuffs, grabbed the Xanax pills and swallowed them. She said she was feeling the effects of the drugs when she reached her hand out the open rear window, lifted the door handle and ran back to her truck. Miles said she remembered Grady jumping onto the truck and leaning into the open driver-side window. Miles denied elbowing the deputy causing her to hit the pavement as Grady testified.

The events included a roughly 7-mile chase at speeds up to 100 mph. Miles drove nearly a mile up the highway, jumped out of the mangled truck, and ran a short distance before a deputy tackled her.

Deputy Chris Greifenberger testified that he saw the man on the motorcycle and hoped the man would see what was going on and hear the sirens.

Trial (Pasco County charges)

Brittany Miles faced Pasco County charges including felony attempted murder, escape, fleeing law enforcement, and DUI.

Opening statements and disputed attempted murder

Aaron Delgado told the jury that Miles admitted she was driving, fled, and that she was guilty of all of those things, but he argued that “she is not guilty of attempted murder.” Delgado said, “Brittany Miles admits she was driving. She admits she fled. She admits all of that. She is guilty of all those things,” and he continued: “We don't challenge it. We don't contest it. But she is not guilty of attempted murder.”

Assistant State Attorney Vin Petty said that Grady “was locked in a life or death struggle,” and Petty told the jury, “At that speed, you can't simply jump off.” He also said Miles eventually won, flinging Grady onto the southbound lanes of U.S. 19.

Delgado said the evidence conflicted about whether there was a struggle inside the vehicle, asking: “Was there a struggle inside that vehicle?” and he asked jurors to hear conflicting evidence.

Miles’ testimony and events during the DUI stop

Miles testified that she became addicted to oxycodone after a doctor prescribed the drug for pain from a car accident. She testified she was high on oxycodone when she was arrested for a suspected DUI in Hudson. She testified that while sitting in the back of a Pasco sheriff’s cruiser, she swallowed a handful of Xanax she had hidden inside her underwear. In that testimony she said: “I was thinking about how I had these pills on me now and I know that I needed to get rid of them,” and: “I would be in more trouble (if caught with them) so I took all of the pills out of my underwear and I swallowed them.” When asked “How many?” she replied: “Somewhere around eight or nine.”

Miles testified: “The window was down. I slipped my handcuff off and I opened the door and I got out and ran.” She testified she ran to her truck, which still had the keys in it.

Grady testified to the struggle. When asked “How forcefully was she pushing you?” Grady said: “To a point where I couldn't hold on anymore.” Grady said she had a broken leg, cuts and bruises, and a concussion, and that she could not see and the world spun around her.

A tow truck driver testified about the vehicle leaving a drainage ditch and flying onto two wheels before careening onto U.S. 19.

Grady said she was suspended for five days without pay for violating agency regulation by leaving the cruiser window down.

Evidence and testimony about injuries and statements

Pasco sheriff’s mechanic Timothy Moore testified that Grady said, “She said, 'The b---- pushed me out the window,'” after Moore found her conscious. (The quote included the censored slur as shown in the record.)

Another statement attributed to Miles included: “I was under the influence. She was trying to arrest me. I had to get to court so I don't lose my child. So I left and got into an accident. I ran for my son so I wouldn't lose him. I guess now I lost him anyway.”

Trial (Hernando County murder case)

Miles faced a separate trial in Hernando County for the death of motorcyclist Henry McCain. Prosecutors charged first-degree felony murder and also sought conviction for aggravated fleeing to elude law enforcement.

Plea and defense position

On March 5, 2013, Miles conceded she was guilty of murder for what happened next. Her attorney Aaron Delgado argued that the facts warranted a third-degree charge, not first-degree felony murder. Delgado told the jury during opening: “Brittany Miles will never dispute that she is 100 percent responsible for (McCain's) death, and she should be punished and found guilty of a crime,” and: “What the evidence will show you is she is guilty of third-degree felony murder.”

Miles and her attorneys argued that her escape ended in Pasco and that there was no legal basis for the first-degree charge. Prosecutors contended the entire episode constituted one long escape from the moment Miles slipped out of her handcuffs to the time a deputy tackled her in Hernando.

Judge Daniel B. Merritt Jr. denied a defense motion to dismiss the aggravated fleeing or eluding charge, disagreeing with an argument that it violated Miles’ constitutional protection from being tried twice for the same crime.

Trial testimony and jury deliberation

On March 6, 2013, Florida Highway Patrol Cpl. Vincent Parnell testified regarding speed and physical evidence at impact. During cross-examination, Delgado asked if Parnell did a survey to confirm the location was north of the county line; Parnell replied: “The accident happened in Hernando County.”

On March 7, 2013, during the fourth day of the murder trial in Hernando County Circuit Court, Assistant State Attorney Bill Catto asked Miles: “Voluntarily” and “Free will” were repeated in questions. Catto asked: “All these actions that you did, you did voluntarily, didn't you?” Miles replied: “Yes,” and she answered further: “And if you had not done those things, Mr. McCain would be alive today, would he not?” “Yes,” and “He would.”

A jury convicted Miles of first-degree felony murder after deliberating for about 90 minutes.

Jury-submitted questions and apologies

Later in the trial, Merritt asked Miles questions submitted by jurors, including a question about why she did not stop after she hit the motorcycle given she said she would have stopped if she knew Deputy Grady was hurt. Miles cried and answered: “I didn't realize at the time how serious the accident was,” then: “I did run, and I don't know why.”

When bailiffs handcuffed her, Miles mouthed words to her parents: “I love you.”

Miles had previously been asked whether she wanted to say something to McCain’s family. As Catto objected to the question, Miles uttered one sentence: “I just want to tell them I'm sorry.”

An additional statement in court included Henry McCain’s widow, Anita McCain, and daughter, Kellie, seated in the gallery and crying during testimony earlier in the trial.

Sentencing and outcome

Circuit Judge Daniel B. Merritt Jr. sentenced Miles on March 7, 2013. The sentence required by law was life in prison with no chance of parole.

Judge Merritt said: “It is indeed a sad day, and I have presided over no more unfortunate case,” and continued: “There is one life gone and essentially another about to be so.”

The jury’s verdict was first-degree felony murder.

Prior convictions and Pasco sentencing

For her actions in Pasco, Miles was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison after being convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer, escape, fleeing and eluding, and DUI. Circuit Judge Michael Andrews sentenced her to 15 years on December 4, 2012. Miles pleaded: “I am just asking for a second chance,” and: “That's it. I made a mistake. I messed up.” Andrews told her: “At some point, you will get out,” and: “Hopefully, it will be an opportunity for you to start all over again and do it differently next time.”

Other details

Miles testified she became addicted to oxycodone after a doctor prescribed the drug for pain from a car accident, and she testified she worked dancing at a Port Richey strip club called the Brass Flamingo to pay for her drug habit. Miles testified she woke up at someone else’s house in Pasco the morning of the crash and left for a court hearing involving her young son, saying: “All I know is that if I wasn't (in court) that morning, they were going to take custody of my son from me,” and: “If I wasn't (in court) that morning, they were going to take custody of my son from me,” and she said further the same point.

Miles’ relatives testified in connection with the Pasco sentencing that she was a compassionate person and a good mother before the pill addiction changed her. Debra Miles asked for mercy, and she said: “The pills kind of, on a molecular level, they rewire the system on how you think.” Edward and Debra Miles declined to comment to reporters.

At the Pasco trial, witnesses testified that on the day of the fatal crash Miles told deputies she had had seven drinks, and a drug test later determined she had oxycodone and Xanax in her system. A court record statement included: “I just want Deputy Grady to know how sorry I am that she was injured that day. She was only trying to do her job. I did not mean for anyone to get hurt, I wasn't in my right state of mind and had I been, none of this would have happened. I really can't express how sorry I am for everything that occurred that day and I hope that somehow the ones injured can find it in their heart to forgive me. I know that I need help and am willing to take whatever help I can get.”

Another event included Miles confronting Natalia Magnifico-Ortiz outside her workplace on March 26, deputies said. Miles asked: “Are you the (expletive deleted) who hit me?” Miles threw Magnifico-Ortiz to the ground, struck her, and pulled out clumps of her hair, according to court documents. Miles left the area in a taxi and said she did not remember anything until she woke up naked in a stranger’s house. Miles told her mother shortly after 1 p.m. that day to pick her up, according to court documents.

Miles’ mother Debra Miles told the Pasco Sheriff's Office: “I was angry with my daughter because of her recent behavior and told her to call one of her friends to help her,” and: “I was done with her.” Debra Miles later drove to an area of Moog Road in New Port Richey to find her. Brittany Miles called her mother from an unknown number, and Miles said several times she did not know where she was, according to court documents. The account continued with Miles’ mother being told by a man that he had found her in the back of a deputy cruiser and brought her back to his place, with the man insisting he slept on the sofa and she slept in another room, and with Debra Miles thinking he sounded suspicious.

Miles’ defense included challenging the basis for first-degree felony murder and arguing for third-degree murder.