Woman's testimony against her son 'right'

In Fort Worth, Daniel Shockley Miller's mother took the witness stand forthe 2nd day in a row Friday, telling jurors that she is testifying againsther 1st-born son in his capital-murder trial because it is the "rightthing to do."

Ginger Miller told jurors that she, her husband, daughter and other sonhad agonized over whether to disclose to authorities that Miller told themin 1997 that he had killed someone.

Several weeks ago, while they were at the Tarrant County districtattorney's office meeting with prosecutors, the family asked for a privateroom for a conference, she said.<

"We knew that Daniel had told us what he had done," Ginger Millertestified. "We were torn between our son and the family of the victim. Wewere trying to decide what was the right thing to do here.

"We decided in the room that we should do the right thing and ... tellexactly what we knew."

Daniel Miller is on trial in state District Judge Wayne Salvant's court,accused of kidnapping and fatally shooting Gina Dykman, 27, on July 21,1996, because he and two friends falsely believed that she was a policeinformant planning to snitch about their methamphetamine trafficking.

If Miller is convicted of capital murder, prosecutors Camille Sparks andAlan Levy will seek the death penalty.

The two other people implicated in the slaying -- Miller's girlfriend,Beverly J. Cropp, and Kirk Alan Cantrell -- remain in the Tarrant CountyJail awaiting capital-murder trials. They would also face the deathpenalty if convicted.

Although Ginger Miller said testifying against her son was the "rightthing to do," she acknowledged during a lengthy cross-examination bydefense attorney Wes Ball that she probably would never have come forwardif her mother and sisters had not "put me in this position."

Ginger Miller said her mother told prosecutors that Ginger Miller washiding the murder weapon at her home, and officers, armed with a searchwarrant, recently swooped in.

The weapon was not found, but prosecutors subpoenaed her and had numerousdiscussions with her and her family about the case.

Ginger Miller said her mother and sisters were upset with her because shehad testified against her brother, Lloyd McCog, during his capital-murdertrial in Dallas this year.

McCog, of Azle, was sentenced to life in prison for robbing and killingJerry Don Lackey, 38, of Abilene, in 1976 near a Dallas lake.

At one point, Ball, who is working with attorney Terry Barlow, suggestedthat Ginger Miller had an "ax to grind" against her son because he toldher current husband about an affair she had with a family friend yearsago.

Ginger Miller denied holding a grudge against her son, saying the affairwas nobody's fault but hers.

She also denied that she treated Daniel Miller differently from her 2other children. Ball suggested that when Daniel Miller was a child, shepurposely burned his face with an iron after he had burned the carpet,made him repeatedly wash his clothes in the laundry room after wetting thebed and made him eat cigarette butts.

Ginger Miller emphatically denied it all, saying she loved her son.

Later, in response to questioning by prosecutor Sparks, Ginger Millertestified that she was "devastated, crushed and hurt" when her son toldher that he had killed someone but that she couldn't just turn him in.

"We were hoping the police had enough information or evidence that theycould do it by themselves without involving us," she said.

In the afternoon, two female prosecution witnesses who are not beingidentified for their protection testified that, in summer 1996,co-defendant Cantrell told them about Dykman's slaying.

One woman testified that Cantrell was living with her when he told her oneday that he, Miller and Cropp had killed a woman. Cantrell describedcalling Dykman to meet him at a convenience store, the woman said, andwhen Dykman arrived, she got in the car with Cantrell.

Cropp soon opened the passenger door and slid in, trapping Dykman betweenCantrell and Cropp, the woman testified.

Dykman's remains were found Aug. 22, 1996, in a Johnson County cemeterynear a lake house owned by Miller's family, according to court testimony.She had been shot twice.

Another woman testified that Cantrell also told her about Dykman'skilling. The same night he told her about the killing, they went toMiller's home, and Miller asked Cantrell whether he had told the womanabout Dykman's death.

Cantrell said no, the woman testified.

Miller "said if I knew and I repeated it, he would kill me, too," thewomen said.

The women, who said they associated with people who injectedmethamphetamine daily and were involved in guns and drug trafficking,offered jurors a glimpse into the drug world.

During questioning, convicted murderer Randy Lee Dragoo was named as amember of the group of methamphetamine users. Dragoo, who is white, wassentenced to life in prison in 1997 for the murder of 61-year-old Herbert"Junior" Johnson, a black man who was gunned down as he picked up trash inthe front yard of his Fort Worth home.

Officials said the shooting, which was covered extensively by the media,was racially motivated. In the early stages of that investigation, Cantrellwas a suspect in Johnson's slaying, but no case was ever filed.

Testimony will resume Monday morning in Criminal District Court No. 2.

(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)