FORT WORTH, Texas-Just two years after being released from prison, Wesley Wayne Miller, convicted of the 1982 murder of a high school cheerleader, is returning to a state lockup.
Miller, 46, violated the terms of his civil commitment three times, including having a romantic relationship with a 21-year-old female jailer at the Cold Springs Jail last year. In a plea deal Friday, Miller earned another 10 years in prison, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Saturday's editions.
Miller had been in county custody since his 2007 prison release, after serving 25 years for the murder of 18-year-old Castleberry High School cheerleader Retha Stratton.
Miller was Texas' first convicted killer to be committed under the state's Sexually Violent Predator Program. He was required to live at the jail after his release.
Over the past two decades, Miller was released from prison on mandatory supervision several times under a state law in effect when he was convicted. Each time, he has been sent back because he refused to participate in sex-offender counseling or was accused of committing another crime, including stalking a Wichita Falls woman.
In 2006 Miller was civilly committed under a 1999 law, which had been expanded to include killers with sexually motivated conduct.
After being transferred to another jail for the romantic relationship, Miller had two more violations for visiting with his father and brother who had been removed from the approved visitors list.
Curtis Fortinberry, Miller's attorney, argued at a hearing Friday that the civil commitment rules do not apply because Miller was living at a jail. But Judge Mike Thomas denied Fortinberry's attempt to quash the new indictments.
Miller hopes to appeal.
"We're looking for some appellate court to clarify the law,"
Fortinberry said. "If they declare it unconstitutional, the Legislature will clean it up and make it right. It's a good law. It serves its purpose, but the way it's written does not."
Prosecutor Alana Minton disagreed.
"Mr. Miller was aware of what his requirements were under his civil commitment," she said. "He knowingly violated those requirements and this is the consequence."
