GUILTY AR - Bridgette, 28, Sydney, 5, & Garrett Barr, 2, murdered, Fort Smith, 22 Dec 2006

FORT SMITH, Ark. — Two young children visiting their mother for Christmas were found dead near her body in a Fort Smith apartment, where authorities arrested the woman's boyfriend early Tuesday, police said.

The three bodies bore no obvious wounds and appeared to have been there for as long as six days, police said. The causes of death had yet to be determined.

Officers went to the apartment after receiving a call shortly after midnight from the boyfriend's father in Colorado saying his son, James Aaron Miller, had sent him a text message that sounded suicidal, Fort Smith police Sgt. Jarrard Copeland said.

When officers arrived at the apartment the woman and Miller shared, Miller, 30, answered the door, Copeland said.

"He told the officer he was ready to go," Copeland said.

Inside, police found the bodies of Bridgette Barr, 28, her 5-year-old daughter, Sydney, and 2-year-old son, Garrett. Barr's body was underneath a blanket, Copeland said. Sydney was found a short distance away, and Garrett was in the apartment's bathtub, he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238899,00.html

How sad! Odd how there's no sign of injury.

VB

And of course the creep did not have the guts or the decency to go thru with his suicide plan. Big man.

Posted on 12 November 2009

LITTLE ROCK — An attorney for a man sentenced to die for killing his girlfriend and her two children in Fort Smith argued today that the victims’ decomposing bodies were discovered during an illegal search.

The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an appeal by James Aaron Miller, who has been convicted of three counts of capital murder and sentenced to death for killing Bridgette Barr, 26, and her daughter and son, Sydney Barr, 5, and Garrett Barr, 2. The justices did not immediately issue a ruling.

snip

Miller’s trial lawyers were unsuccessful in seeking to have him declared mentally retarded before the trial, but they were allowed to present evidence of retardation during the sentencing phase of the trial. If jurors had agreed that Miller was retarded, they would have had to recommend a sentence of life without parole.

Much more at link -
http://arkansasnews.com/2009/11/12/...ars-arguments-in-condemned-murderer’s-appeal/

Posted on 07 January 2010

By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A Fort Smith man sentenced to die for killing his girlfriend and her two children over the Christmas holiday in 2006 will get a new sentencing hearing.

The Arkansas Supreme Court today upheld James Aaron Miller’s conviction on three counts of capital murder but overturned his death sentence, ruling that errors occurred during the sentencing phase of Miller’s trial when witnesses told jurors they should impose the death penalty.

http://arkansasnews.com/tag/james-aaron-miller/

Posted: Thursday, April 1, 2010 12:00 am

By Wanda Freeman
Times Record • wfreeman@swtimes.com | 1 comment

At a hearing Wednesday, the resentencing trial of convicted murderer James Aaron Miller was tentatively set for mid-August.

After a weeklong trial in Sebastian County Circuit Court in April 2008, Miller, 34, was found guilty of three counts of capital murder in connection with the December 2006 slayings of his girlfriend, Bridgette Barr, and her two children, Sydney and Garrett Barr.

He received the death penalty on all three counts, making his case subject to an automatic appeal.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Jan. 7 that the convictions could stand but the sentences should be reversed and retried because the penalty phase of the trial contained errors relating to the victim-impact statements.

http://swtimes.com/news/article_ea07a028-baf3-5bf3-ad9f-cd50609e9f96.html

our system is a joke. this guy gets to live simply cause of an 'alleged illeagal search.

the girl i helped is still rotting in prison simply cause the state refuses to admit it was wrong.

Convicted murderer James Aaron Miller has been resentenced to life in prison. A Sebastian County jury reached the decision Friday around 10:00 p.m. after nearly 3.5 hours of deliberation.

Miller could have received the death penalty for his conviction in the 2006 deaths of his girlfriend and her two children. His resentencing trial began Tuesday in Fort Smith and wrapped up Friday afternoon. His defense team argued Miller is mentally retarded and deserved mercy.

Click to expand...

http://www.5newsonline.com/news/kfsm-miller-resentenced-to-life-in-prison-20110225,0,6308803.story