Miller sentenced to life in prison for murder

WE, THE JURY, FIND THE DEFENDANT ... Antonio Miller was found guilty of murdering and torturing 39-year-old Frederick Tucker in 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison Friday. Staff photo by Anna Dolianitis.

A 33-year-old Columbia man was sentenced to life in prison after a four-day trial at the Aiken County courthouse during which he was convicted of the 2008 torture and murder of an Aiken man.

Antonio Miller was found guilty of all four charges of which he was accused and was sentenced to life in prison for murder, life for burglary first degree, 30 years for kidnapping and five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding Miller guilty of the murder of Frederick Tucker of Old Barnwell Road in Aiken.

Miller, along with Melvin Cummings, 30, of Aiken, Marquise Redfield, 37, and Ronald Grooms, 25, both of Columbia, were charged in the Sept. 15 home invasion during which Tucker was tied with duct tape, burned on various parts of his body with a heated screwdriver, pistol-whipped and fatally shot after his home was ransacked in search of drugs and money.

"When you connect all the dots and all the evidence in this case, then the defendant is guilty of these crimes," Assistant Solicitor Beth Ann Young told the jury during her closing arguments Friday morning, adding that Tucker was "completely helpless and at the mercy of these thugs."

During the trial, witnesses testified that Miller and his codefendants planned the murder in advance, casing the victim's home several times on the weekend before the murder.

Following the murder, the men drove to Columbia in a rented vehicle that was being tracked by a Columbia car rental agency because it was not returned by the time it was due back.

Richland County Sheriff's Office deputies tracked the car to Miller's home on North Main Street in Columbia, where drugs and guns were discovered, although authorities did not realize the connection to the Aiken murder until later.

Tucker died within minutes of the fatal shot to the chest, a forensic pathologist testified earlier this week, and the cause of death was exsanguination - bleeding out.

Cummings testified during the trial that following the murder, he went to Books-A-Million to pick up his fiance at work, and surveillance video shows Miller inside the store, as well. On the tape, Miller is seen wearing black and gold tennis shoes, which Aiken County investigators later testified had blood stains on them when they were found and taken from Miller's home when the connection between the murder and the potential suspects at North Main Street in Columbia was made.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division expert witnesses testified that the blood stains on the shoes matched a DNA profile for Tucker.

"The reason that blood is on the defendant's shoe is because he's a murderer, and he murdered the victim in this case," Young said in court.

Cummings also testified that he saw the screwdriver thrown out of the car window when the men were driving from Aiken to Columbia, and, following his arrest, Cummings reached out to authorities and showed them where the screwdriver was located in a bush near the roadside.

The guns found when the men were parked at the North Main Street address, DNA evidence and testimony from Cummings and other witnesses who heard the gunshots and saw men running from Tucker's home were all introduced in court to prove Miller's guilt.

Defense attorney Ola Johnson stated that firearms evidence shown in court did not prove who fired the fatal shots that killed Tucker, only who owned the guns. He also questioned whether someone was guarding the front door of Miller's residence when law enforcement responded to the Columbia address following the shooting to ensure that nobody entered the home to tamper with evidence.

"The solicitor has been selling you this case all week," Johnson told the jury before they deliberated. "Before you buy it, look at all the details."

One of Tucker's 13-year-old twin daughters, as well as her mother, appeared in court Friday and asked the judge to give Miller the maximum sentence.

Miller has prior convictions dating back to 1998, including federal convictions for cocaine smuggling, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, carrying or using a firearm during or in relation to drug trafficking and using marijuana while in prison.

Cummings pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September 2010.

Redfield pleaded guilty to murder in March 2011 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Grooms is awaiting trial.

Anna Dolianitis is a reporter for the Aiken Standard. She covers the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, as well as court and legal matters affecting Aiken County. She has been with the Aiken Standard since August 2010.