Brendon Miller

2003 Report

BRENDON D. MILLER, Breathitt County Attorney 2003 REPORT
Monday, January 5, 2004, marked my one year anniversary as County Attorney. I sincerely thank you, the Citizens of Breathitt County, for giving me the chance to serve in this position. This past year has undoubtedly been hardest of my life. To be frankly honest with you, my first year of college while playing both football and baseball and my first year of law school were definitely easier than this past year has been. I was easier doing three-a-day football practices in 100 degree temperatures. Though this year has been tough, it has been very rewarding as well. I realize that my position can be used to affect the direction that our County will take in the future and our ability to compete with others for advancement. My office has forwarded many new ideas and theories on how to do this job and shape this community, hopefully the accomplishments of our office listed below will point Breathitt County in a new direction for the future.
I thank each of you who have complemented me on writing these articles. I believe that each public official should attempt to keep the citizens informed of what is going on in their office and also educate the public on things that they should know. I have found that very few people know the laws that they are expected to obey, and will try to continue to educate the public on things they need to know. The things that have taken place in each part of the job are listed below.

PROSECUTOR
As many know, the first stop for all problems is the County Attorney’s office, and we have undertaken a major change in how arrest warrants are issued. Basically, all complaints are reviewed by either myself or Assistant County Attorney Stanley Turner, to see if there is a valid complaint that can be proven in court. The complaint is checked to see if there is sufficient evidence for a charge and if so if it is serious enough to have someone arrested. Our office takes very seriously having a person arrested based upon the statements of a private citizen without police involvement. We attempt to only have valid cases come to court.
The office has recently instituted a new process to do citizen complaints. Complaints will be taken during normal office hours, but only reviewed and then prepared for the person to sign and present for authorization from a judge on Mondays and Thursdays. This facilitates Judge Profitt being present to issue the warrants/summons, and frees up some time for myself and other members of the office to work on other parts of the job. The complaint process can become overwhelming and restrict other activities.

DUI’S
Before taking office, I promised to prosecute DUI’s, including persons driving on drugs, and have done so. It is amazing that there are not very many DUI alcohol cases at all. A large portion of cases now are DUI drugs. DUI drug cases require much extra work and that many extra steps be taken in the proof of such cases, including having lab technicians be present to prosecute the cases.
During 2003 we have had 120 DUI cases that have been fully disposed of in District Court. The breakdown of disposition is as follows:
Guilty pleas as charged – 81; Guilty pleas to amended higher or lower level of DUI as was charged with wrong level based upon driving history – 9; Guilty verdicts at trial – 3; Not guilty verdicts at trial – 2; Cases dismissed at Preliminary Hearing (in conjunction with felony charge) due to officer choosing to present case to Grand Jury – 6; Cases dismissed by Court (over objection of Commonwealth) on trial date or date of scheduled hearing as Commonwealth could not proceed due to Kentucky State Trooper who had made arrests no longer with KSP and would not answer subpoena – 5; Case dismissed by Court (over objection of Commonwealth) due to officer not responding to subpoena on hearing date – 2; Case dismissed based upon order of Court that probable cause did not exist for stop – 1; Case dismissed as blood test came back clean – 1; Case dismissed due to breathalyzer being below legal level and below presumption of intoxication, plead guilty on other charges – 1; Case dismissed as drug test was lost prior to reaching lab - 1; Case amended to reckless driving due to breathalyzer being below legal level or drug test clean – 3; Case amended to AI as part of plea deal with multiple DUI’s and inability to prove operation – 1; Case amended to AI due to drug test being lost prior to reaching lab – 2; Case amended to AI due to inability to prove operation of vehicle based upon affidavits of witnesses and victim – 1; Case amended to AI based upon order of Court suppressing test – 1.
This is a total of 119 cases, with 90 guilty pleas and 3 guilty verdicts, for a conviction rate of 78%. When you subtract the 7 cases dismissed by the Court due to matters concerning the failure of the arresting officer to be present, one case dismissed for lack of probable cause, 6 cases that were sent on to the grand jury as they were associated with felonies, 2 cases that were dismissed due to a clean test or low alcohol test, and one case dismissed due to lost test, there have been 93 of 103 cases with a conviction, for a rate of 90%, with 8 cases pleading to lesser offenses, and 2 acquittals at trial.
As the above numbers make clear, our office is attempting to prosecute DUI’s very closely, hopefully, people will realize that they can party and have fun and drink if they wish, but they will not be allowed to place the lives of other persons in danger by driving impaired.

Work Program
As a solution to jail budget issues and a better way to punish criminals for lower level offenses, I have been able to set up the community labor program, or “community service”. In lieu of jail, the defendant is sentenced to work for the County on projects. A rough estimate of participation as of December 31, 2003, revealed that a total of 41 persons had completed their community service working 328 days. This labor has been able to clean up graveyards, cut brush, clean the courthouse, and many other tasks benefiting public entities.

Other Matters
The office has instituted a policy regarding truancy of children and school, trying to insure children receive an education. Also, the cold check program has been able to collect checks for the businesses of the County and hopefully, facilitate better trade in the County.

CHILD SUPPORT
Our office is making major strides in Child Support. Last January I was honored to be chosen by the Kentucky County Attorney’s Association to represent the Kentucky River region (the eight counties of the KRADD district) on child support issues, and have attended many meetings that will hopefully shape the future of child support enforcement in Kentucky. Child Support is a highly emotional issue due to the fact that both children and money are involved. As part of our contractual duties with the Cabinet for Families and Children we have four duties: 1) establish paternity of children born out of wedlock; 2) establish support in each case where the parents of children are not living together; 3) collect current monthly support; and 4) collect child support arrearages. Our office is ranked against other counties in the state as to our position. This year we moved up from 96 in the state to 35 in establishing paternity, moved up from 92 to 66 in establishing support, moved down from 81 to 92 in current support collections, and moved up from 75 to 45 in arrearage collections. As you can see, our office has made substantial gains in all matters with the exception of current support collections. Our percentage of cases paying in that category is actually higher, however, due to the large number of cases that have been established this year we are working on getting many of those persons started paying. Our percentage of collection of current support will never be really great due to the difficulty of collecting support from persons drawing state assistance and the economy of Eastern Kentucky.
Child support is so vitally important in that to each citizen even if they are not involved in a child support case. It is my contention that the governmental deficits were are facing would be much less if more child support is paid. The State is paying to raise many, many children, and non-payment or recoupment of that money leads to deficits. My child support staff, Mary, Lisa, Janice, Penny and Joy do a great job.

TAX COLLECTION
As I promised during my campaign, I have made a concerted effort to collect delinquent property taxes. The results have been truly greater than I could have imagined. My original goal for the year was $100,000.00, and the final numbers came close to doubling at $197,712.37. I pushed for $200,000.00 during December, but fell short. Of that amount the following amounts were distributed to the taking districts and offices:

Breathitt Board of Education $61,721.05
Kentucky State Treasurer $30,982.59
Breathitt County General Fund $23,376.86
Breathitt County Clerk $17,174.29
Breathitt County Library $11,821.27
Breathitt Extension District $ 7,002.97
Breathitt Health Department $ 6,963.34
Breathitt County Sheriff $ 3,178.58
Breathitt Conservation District $ 2,750.56
The balance of the money was used by County Attorney Office to buy new computers, a copier, filing cabinets, and furniture, along with operating expenses. Though I hope this number can be repeated in the coming year, I again will set our goal at $100,000.00 for collection. This money will prove very valuable during the current and coming tough budget times. Hopefully, all persons will now take the opportunity to pay their taxes on time, without the penalties that come with delinquency.

COUNTY ADVISOR
This by far is the most difficult and time consuming part of the job. There have been so may issues that have come to the forefront during the past year including many aspects of the Judicial Center, the ambulance service and the ongoing lawsuit, the nursing home situation, and all other matters that touch the County, all of which have demanded countless hours. Most importantly, I am interested in making sure that all matters undertaken by the Fiscal Court are done in publicly held meetings so that all citizens can know how their government runs and what their tax dollars are being spent on.

WATER DISTRICT
I feel that my involvement with the Breathitt County Water District, has been the most important and potentially beneficial part of the job. For years, the District has not been established properly and many hours were logged getting the Water District officially organized and established according to law, so that it could function independently of the Fiscal Court and actually be eligible to receive the funds needed to do the projects. All of this work will become evident as digging for the pipe will be starting while this report is being printed. Breathitt County is in the bottom two counties in which residents have water in this Commonwealth, which is shameful. This project will benefit so many along Hwy. 30, and then along Ky. 397, Curt Road, and Old Buck as Phase II progresses this year. The District will, I believe, do more to benefit the citizens of Breathitt County over the coming years than any other project undertaken.
Needless to say, all this along with still keeping up a private law practice, doing public appearances and speaking engagements, serving on various boards and committees, and trying to have a life outside this job has been very, very difficult. However, I knew all of this prior to running for the job, and it has been truly rewarding. I truly enjoy this job and trying to make change happen for the future of this county, and I am looking forward to the coming years when some of the results will be apparent. I would like to extend a special thanks to Assistant County Attorney Stanley T. Turner for his hard work on all matters and to County Attorney Secretary Imogene Minix for her tireless work.
Please e-mail me at bdmiller@setel.com with any comments, and visit the County Attorney website at breathittcoattorney.com for more information on the office. Remember, Breathitt County can only be better with Change and that Change will take much hard work and everyone working together.