Kevin Murphy, Leader Correspondent
A Keshena man who had sexual contact with a minor while in bed with his sleeping wife was recently sentenced in federal court in Green Bay to 3 1/2 years in prison to be followed by 10 years supervised release.
Leslie A. Miller, 50, had previously pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact with a person under 12 years. The incident occurred between Nov. 1, 2012, and Feb. 20, 2013.
According to court documents, Miller and his wife frequently babysat a 10-year-old girl. Miller was watching a movie in bed with the girl while his wife slept.
Miller admitted he touched the girl’s genitals but on top of her clothing. The girl maintained Miller touched her underneath her underwear.
Miller was indicted in June while he was in tribal custody for violation probation on an unrelated offense, Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Whittemore said.
Whittemore and Miller’s attorney, Krista Halla-Valdes, initially recommended a four-year sentence, but Halla-Valdes then requested a year’s reduction, which was equal to the time Miller had been in tribal custody.
Whittemore objected to the request because Miller spent that time in custody on a tribal offense.
District Judge William Griesbach split the difference, Whittemore said.
In Miller’s defense, Halla-Valdes wrote the court that this was Miller’s first serious conviction. Also, there was no force or violence involved in the one-time occurrence, and although he did not immediately stop when the girl told him to, Miller quit touching quickly after it began, Halla-Valdes wrote.
Drug and alcohol abuse has been a “common theme” to all Miller’s criminal behavior, Halla-Valdes wrote. Miller drank and at certain points used cocaine daily, spending up to $1,000 per week, while married to his first wife.
Married to Annette Miller since 2010, Miller has had “a much better, more mature relationship,” Halla-Valdes wrote.
Miller has always been employed as a heavy equipment operator and has begun to focus on some mental health issues that underlie his excessive drinking, she wrote.
“With the support of his family and (an Alcoholics Anonymous) sponsor with whom he has already established regular contact, Mr. Miller is ready to become a productive and positive sober member of society again,” Halla-Valdes wrote in a pre-sentence memo to the court.
Miller has been in federal custody since Feb. 7. He began serving his sentence after it was imposed on April 15.