Opinion ID: 3171240
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events prior to the murder of Scott Miller

Text: Scott ―Scottish‖ Miller was a founding member of an Orange County based White supremacist street gang called Public Enemy Number 1 (PEN1), which formed in the mid 1980s. By the mid to late 1990s, Miller‘s status within the gang had diminished, and he had become marginalized. In February 2001, a local television station aired two news segments about PEN1. The segments featured an interview with Miller, who spoke candidly about the gang‘s activities, including its use of violence. Although news producers attempted to protect Miller‘s identity by disguising his face and voice, PEN1 gang members immediately recognized Miller by his tattoos, mannerisms, and the objects around him, including his pit bull. 2 Before ruling on the automatic motion to modify the verdict, the court granted the prosecution‘s motion under section 1385 to dismiss various prior conviction allegations that previously had been bifurcated from the guilt phase of trial but not resolved. The court later stayed, pursuant to section 654, sentence on the conspiracy and accessory convictions. 2 The news segments were considered bad timing for PEN1, whose two main leaders were then being tried on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. As a result of the broadcasts, PEN1 leadership put a ―green light‖ on Miller, marking him for execution. On several occasions during the year that followed, Miller told his girlfriend that he was concerned for his safety. According to one former gang member, however, Miller was still ―running around‖ because no one had the courage to deal with him. Shortly before March 2002, officers in the gang unit at the Costa Mesa Police Department were actively looking for Miller to warn him that they had received credible information that PEN1 members were planning to kill him.