On Tuesday, a hearing was held to determine whether a Lancaster County teen should indeed be tried as an adolescent or as an adult on charges that she murdered her sister.
Prosecutors called witnesses in an attempt to persuade the court that Claire Miller must be tried as an adult in the stabbing death of her 19-year-old sister, Helen, in 2021.
Claire Miller was 14 years old at the time.
Miller requested to be dismissed from the courtroom as the autopsy report was reciteD, and she did appear to cry as the police body cam video was played.
When police arrived at the house, they found Claire Miller standing shoeless in the snow, covered in blood and crying. They claimed she admitted stabbing her sister.
Manheim Township police Detective Jonathan Martin testified in court that Miller was in a waiting area of the police precinct when she got to hear a ringtone with the theme music from “Halloween” and said, “I Michael Myers’ed my sister.”
When police decided to bring Miller breakfast, she reportedly said, “I’d have killed someone sooner if I knew I’d get McDonald’s.”
Miller did admit to stabbing her cerebral palsied sister as she slept in their Manheim Township home, according to police.
Helen Miller was stabbed twice in the chest, twice in the jaw, and three times in the neck, according to coroner Dr. Wayne Ross.
When police arrived, a knife was in her neck.
A psychiatrist testified Claire Miller was not a reliable source on her psychosis and hallucinations.
Two defense witnesses agreed. Psychiatrists say Miller heard voices the evening she is suspected of murdering her sister, and the hallucinations helped lead her to try to stab a tormenting female voice.
Both sides debated Miller’s psychiatric rehabilitation.
