In a case that attracted considerable media interest, a 44-year-old former stripper was recently convicted of attempting to kill her fiancé with the help of her teen son and his friend.
Vicky Renee Miller, 44, was found guilty of attempting to kill Paul Key in November 2011. She received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The Collin County jury also issued a $10,000 fine, the Dallas Morning News reported.
During the trial Key testified that he met Miller while she was working as a dancer at Lipstick Cabaret in Dallas, a topless club. He said he proposed within 30 minutes, and Miller accepted. But she kept putting off the marriage after they dated over a period of more than three years. He finally broke up with her.
Prosecutor Paul Anfosso said Miller wanted her former fiancé dead.
The Dallas Morning News reported the stripper enlisted her son and his friend, who were both 17 at the time, to help.
“A motive for the killing was never established during the trial. Nor was it ever made clear what they would have done with the dead body had they succeeded,” reported the Dallas Morning News.
One night in November 2011, as Key was waiting in Miller’s apartment in Plano, he was choked with an extension cord, suffocated with a pillow and hit over the head with a saucepan. Miller’s was accused of enlisting her son Francisco Hurtado and his friend Dunkan Boyce.
“After Key escaped, Miller, Francisco Hurtado and Dunkan Boyce concocted a story that Key attacked Miller. Boyce testified that Hurtado, Miller’s son, beat up Miller to make their story more convincing,” reported the Dallas Morning News.
Defense attorneys said the two teens instigated the attack and Miller was not involved.
Cases such as this in which a party is accused of using others to carry out a crime, presents evidential difficulties for prosecutors who have to establish a link. It’s often in the interests of a party who has carried out an attack to blame another. It’s important in these cases to hire an experienced Texas criminal defense attorney.
