Jarrod Miller's Sister 'Mandy' a Key Witness in Murder Trial

A 911 tape of the terrorized voice of Amanda "Mandy" Miller on the night her boyfriend launched opening statements Friday by in the murder trial of Amanda Miller's brother Jarrod Miller.

"My boyfriend is dead," Mandy Miller is heard to say in a  high-pitched squeal on the tape from the

The trial, expected to last several weeks, hinges on the events that night last year, when Jarrod Miller is accused of shooting home north of Healdsburg. 

"This was a planned execution," Ravitch told the Sonoma County jury of 12 men and women and three alternates. "When Tim Neuer came out of the bathroom, he was a marked man."

"Jarrod Miller knew that Tim would die," Ravitch said. "Jarrod Miller took great steps to prepare for it."

A different picture, however, came from Jarrod Miller's attorney Joe Bisbiglia in the defense's opening statements Friday.

"This is a tragedy," said Bisbiglia. "However, it's a tragedy that has its roots a long time before the tragedy of March 8 -- the loss of life."

Bisbiglia said Jarrod Miller began showing signs of depression and the beginnings of paranoid schizophrenia as early as his teenage years, resulting in a series of failed life experiences in the military, in school and in finding work.

He also was traumatized when his favorite uncle committed suicide when Jarrod Miller was a teenager.

"This is a case of illness -- not one of evil," Bisbiglia said.

Miller retracted a not guilty by reason of insanity plea before the trial.

Bisbiglia told the jury that once they heard the story of Jarrod Miller's anguished attempts to get hold of his life over several decades, "the district attorney may be asking for a first-degree murder verdict, but I will be asking for something less than that," he said.

Miller, 30, dressed in a light blue button-down shirt and black slacks, sat quietly and very still at the defense table during the proceedings. He has been in custody in Sonoma County Jail since being arrested by police the night of the murder.

Miller, driving his father's borrowed white Suburban, was stopped by police on Old Redwood Highway near Windsor. Inside the car, police found a empty box used to hold a gun from a Cabella's sporting goods store in Nevada.

stop, Ravitch said.

"The gun is the one Miller bought three days before in Verdi, Nev.," Ravitch said. "He rented a vehicle March 5 from the Alamo rental office in San Francisco and drove 600 miles to Cabella's and bought the murder weapon and then came home March 6."

that his sister and Neuer were cultivating at the Alexander Valley Road home and also at a home in Cloverdale, Bisbiglia said.

Jarrod Miller, who had been living in Las Vegas, moved in with Neuer and his sister for several months in late 2010, but the situation deteriorated and the couple asked him to leave, according to court testimony. 

He went to live in the Cloverdale home for several weeks after that, "alone and surrounded by marijuana plants," Bisbiglia said.

"Jarrod Miller wanted no part of the marijuana operation," Bisbiglia said. "He became paranoid about the marijuana grow."

Later on Friday, Amanda Miller testified that she and Neuer had visited the home in Cloverdale the night of March 8, after first stopping at a neighbors' home and having some drinks.

At the Cloverdale home, Neuer became "agitated," she said, and confronted Jarrod Miller, telling him he needed to leave and to "stop taking advantage of people," she said.

"He said to him, 'Why are you still here?'" Amanda Miller said. "Jarrod said, 'Mind your own business.'"

After the confrontation, the couple left the Cloverdale home and went back to their Healdsburg residence.

Jarrod Miller showed up later that night, saying he wanted to talk to Neuer,

Neuer said he could talk while he got his haircut, but her brother said he wanted Neuer to sit next to him on a sofa in the living room and talk, Amanda Miller said.

When Neuer came out of the bathroom several minutes later he told her brother to get out of his house, she said. Her brother then stood up and shot Neuer three times, she said.

She said she tried to stop him by choking him and dragging his arm down but he was too strong.

Neuer put his hands out, looked her in the eyes and said, 'Babe' as he was shot, she said.

Miller said her brother then told her, "It's going to be okay now Mandy, it's going to be alright." He then left the house and she called 911, Neuer died at the scene.

Bisbiglia, however, said his client did not plan to execute Neuer as Ravitch alleged in her opening statement.

He said Neuer "stomped out of the bathroom and said 'get the f--- out of my house'," Bisbiglia said.

"The final incident, the shooting, was the culmination of stress and paranoia. He believed others were out to get him," Bisbiglia said.
       
He said intends to call Dr. Thomas Cushing, a he symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

Ravitch said she intends to call Parent as another prosecution witness, among others.

According to a story in the Press Democrat, Miller faces two 25-years-to-life prison sentences if convicted of first-degree murder and firearm enhancements. To read the full story, click here.

The trial resumes Tuesday.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.