Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

PLYMOUTH TWP. — A local dentist who advocated for harsher sentencing in hit-and-run homicides after his son was killed by a driver who allegedly was drinking in 2012 was arrested Sunday on suspicion of DUI.

Dr. Stephen Miller, 40, of Dallas, was stopped at about 9:10 p.m. while driving south on U.S. Route 11 at the intersection with state Route 29, near JJ Banko’s Seafood in Plymouth Township, according to state police in Wyoming.

Police said Miller was stopped because he was observed driving in the dark with his vehicle’s headlights off and taillights not illuminated.

He was taken into custody for suspicion of DUI, and any charges are pending blood-alcohol test results, police said.

Attempts to reach Miller at his dental practice and at his home on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Miller and his wife, Caroline, had advocated for increasing the minimum prison sentence for hit-and-run fatalities after they learned that Thomas Letteer Jr. could serve as little as a year in jail for fleeing the scene after he had been allegedly drinking and his vehicle struck and killed the Millers’ 5-year-old son, Kevin, while the family was crossing North Street in Wilkes-Barre on Dec. 21, 2012.

Following the hit-and-run, police began a massive search for a red Pontiac sedan that was recorded on private and city surveillance cameras near the scene. They came across a red 1999 Pontiac Grand Am on Mack Street near Letteer’s home in Plains Township. Letteer initially denied being in Wilkes-Barre the night Kevin was killed when interviewed by investigators. But cellphone records and other evidence proved otherwise.

Letteer eventually entered into a plea agreement, and Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. handed down a two-to-five-year prison sentence, taking into account aggravating factors such as Kevin’s age.

Despite testimony that Letteer had attended a party at a West Wyoming home and consumed alcohol on the night of Kevin’s death, he could not be charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, which carries a minimum three-year sentence, because he had fled the scene and his blood-alcohol level was unable to be ascertained.

Following the May 1, 2014, sentencing, Kevin’s family joined prosecutors and lawmakers — including state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, state Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, and state Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca — at a press conference calling on state legislators to change the law.

The Legislature passed an amendment to a Transportation Bill in 2014 that included increasing the minimum penalty for leaving the scene of an accident involving death to three years. The legislation became known as Kevin’s Law.

Travis Kellar contributed to this story.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Miller_Stephen-1.jpg.optimal.jpg
Local dentist was arrested in Plymouth Twp.

By Steve Mocarsky

[email protected]

Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.