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NANTICOKE — Court documents indicate Stephen Miller is headed to higher court on some his initial charges stemming from a DUI incident that allegedly happened in June.
Court documents indicate Miller, 50, had one charge of DUI and summary charges of careless driving and not having headlights on waived to court.
Two endangering the welfare of children charges were dismissed, and another DUI charge was withdrawn.
Miller is scheduled for a formal arraignment at 10 a.m. Dec. 8 at the Luzerne County Courthouse.
Miller had a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Donald Whitaker Sept. 22. He was not present at the hearing, but his attorney Joe Nocito was.
One of Miller’s two counts of driving under the influence, stemming from a June 12 traffic stop, was withdrawn by prosecutors because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires officers to obtain a search warrant in order to draw the blood of motorists arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. At the time Miller was pulled over, the law was not in effect.
Miller, who was with his wife, Caroline, and two young children at the time of the traffic stop, was pulled over at the intersection of state Routes 29 and 11 in Plymouth Township.
According to a state trooper’s affidavit, Miller, of Dallas, whose son become the namesake for Kevin’s Law — a portion of a Transportation Bill that included increasing to three years the minimum penalty for leaving the scene of an accident involving death — had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. He was initially pulled over because the vehicle he was driving did not have its headlights turned on.
A blood test later showed Miller had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.273 percent at the time, the affidavit says, more than three times the maximum legal BAC of 0.08 percent.
In memory of their 5-year-old son, Kevin, who died after being struck by a car driven by Thomas Letteer Jr. in December 2012, Miller and his wife pushed for an increase in the minimum prison sentence for hit-and-run fatalities. The family was crossing North Street in Wilkes-Barre and Letteer struck the younger Miller, then fled the scene.