GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A plea deal has landed a Montana man accused of 64 counts of sexual abuse of children a 1-year deferred sentence with unsupervised probation, according to local media.
KFBB-TV reports, William Edward Miller Jr., 51, was arrested in Feb. 2019 on charges related to rape. During the execution of a search warrant, detectives found sexual images with Miller and a woman before she turned 18, several child porn images, and thousands of bestiality-related images on his phone and laptop.
Miller's plea deal dismissed all but two charges from his alleged crimes, pleading guilty to felony sexual abuse of children and misdemeanor unsworn falsification to authorities, according to the Great Falls Tribune.
Cascade County District Judge Elizabeth Best sentenced Miller to six months for the misdemeanor with credit for 384 days of time served and a one-year deferred sentence on the felony, according to the newspaper. Under a deferred sentence, KFBB says if Miller does not break the law during his sentence the sexual abuse of children charge will "fall off his record."
Miller's sentence comes with court-ordered sex offender treatment and unsupervised probation, according to local media.
“I think it’s really easy and it's easy for courts, from the bench, to use these offenses as an opportunity to grandstand and to make statements for the newspaper and TV,” she said to the Tribune. "They’re very, very loaded charges. They’re very difficult charges to defend against.”
The one count of sexual abuse of children allegedly stemmed from a photo of Miller's now 19-year-old wife when she was 17. The Great Falls Tribune reports that she testified at the hearing claiming she took the photo herself to help with body image issues.
“William is a kind, compassionate, empathetic man. Never has he manipulated or controlled me,” the outlet says she stated in court. “I ask that we be free of this charge. I feel that we have suffered enough, and I am not a victim of my husband.”
Miler reportedly told the judge that he wants to be a good person, but that he instead has bad luck.
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