KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The daughter and sister of Everett Miller took the stand for the defense Friday as part of an effort to keep him off death row.
Miller is facing the death penalty after he was convicted for the 2017 murders of Kissimmee police officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard.
Miller's daughter's testimony was sort of lighthearted, as juxtaposed to most of the trial testimony, which was serious and straight forward.
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His daughter, 28-year-old Rynequa Miller, moved around with him a lot when she was growing up because of his career in the military.
The defense showed photos of them together over the years and even played a video she took of her father dancing at a wedding in the months before he murdered the officers.
"When we would go to restaurants, he would want to sit in a certain spot so he could see who was coming and going," Rynequa Miller said. "Which is a little different."
She said that Miller did normal dad things, including taking her shopping and to amusement parks, and even taught her how to mow the lawn.
Rynequa Miller testified she didn't see much change in him leading up to the murders, but he did seem a little more paranoid than she remembered.
When Miller's sister, Shavon Sutton, got on the stand, she was anything but smiles.
"I don't remember because you guys constantly harassed me and my family," Sutton said when asked if she remembered giving a statement. "Putting guns to my kids' heads and I don't remember."
Prosecutors were attempting to get Miller to discuss the incident where her brother was taken for a mental health evaluation after witnesses saw him in his underwear carrying an assault rifle a couple of weeks before the murders.
Just like Thursday, it seemed the defense was trying to show how a normal man who served in the military suddenly changed.
"I'm telling you what I know," Sutton said. "I do not remember."
But prosecutors got her to talk about spending a day with him in Tampa before the murder and she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
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