TOWN OF HARRISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The state appeals court rejected a motion for a new sentence by a man serving a 14-year prison term for the drunk driving crash which killed his motorcycle passenger and injured a boy riding his bike.
Codi Miller, 27, was convicted on multiple charges for the August 2018 crash in the Calumet County town of Harrison.
In his appeal, Miller argued that because the judge made a mistake during sentencing – referring to his blood alcohol level as .210, not the .153 as was testified to at trial – that is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.
However, in the 11-page decision issued Wednesday, the Court of Appeals rejected the argument.
“Furthermore, we conclude the circuit court did not err in also determining that a new factor was not present because even if the .210 BAC was inaccurate, the inaccuracy, while relevant to the imposition of Miller’s sentence, was not highly relevant to it in light of other significant factors the court considered at sentencing. The court based its decision that the BAC “inaccuracy” was not highly relevant upon the difference between the .210 BAC from the hospital testing and the .153 BAC from the crime lab testing that Miller insists is the correct BAC Additionally and relatedly, because of the minimal relevance of the difference between .210 and .184 (or .153), we also conclude that the court did not erroneously exercise its discretion in determining that even if Miller had shown a new factor, sentence modification is nonetheless unwarranted,” the court wrote.
The crash happened Aug. 19, 2018, at the intersection of Hwy. KK and State Park Road in Harrison. Kim Anderson, 53, a passenger on Miller’s motorcycle, was killed. Henry Schinke, then 13, who was riding his bike, was seriously injured. Because of three previous drunken driving convictions, Miller had a .02 limit for driving.
Miller is currently being housed at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, according to state records.
