Published: February 28, 2007 12:24 am            

Harris County man executed for 1982 shooting deaths

Donald Miller offered no final words before being put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening.

Miller, 44, a native of Harris County, was convicted in 1982 for the murders of Michael Dennis Mozingo and Kenneth White that same year.

Mozingo was shot in the head after Miller committed an aggravated robbery of the man, also shooting White in the head shortly after in February 1982. The bodies of both were found by a fisherman along a road near Lake Houston. Miller was only 19 when he committed the murders and was on parole for vehicle theft.

Neither victims nor inmate had friends or family in attendance.

Miller was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

Prosecutors described the victims as traveling salesmen from North Carolina, selling furniture from the back of an 18-wheeler. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found by a fisherman near Lake Houston.

Miller, who was tried only for Mozingo’s murder, was the sixth condemned inmate executed this year in Texas, the nation’s most active capital punishment state. Five more convicted murderers are set to die next month, including two next week.

Miller arrived on death row in 1982, making him among the longest serving of almost 400 Texas prisoners awaiting lethal injection.

“Very disappointing,” said Bert Graham, one of the Harris County district attorneys who prosecuted Miller for capital murder. “It’s 25 years he’s been living and Mr. Mozingo has been gone for 25 years and his family hasn’t had the opportunity to share that 25 years with him.”

Mozingo was carrying at least $5,000 in cash. The furniture taken from his truck was valued at some $40,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October refused to review Miller’s case. Miller’s attorneys filed a late appeal in the state courts, arguing prosecutors improperly suppressed evidence and the trial judge refused to force them to give it to defense lawyers.

“It might have influenced one of the jurors to not give a death sentence,” said James Rytting, Miller’s lawyer. “The trial court made some really horrific rulings.”

But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed Monday and dismissed the appeal. A similar appeal already had been rejected by the federal courts and Rytting said he planned no additional appeals. He made no clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the governor, characterizing those as futile.

Miller declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled execution. In a letter to the Houston Chronicle, however, Miller said he was “connected to this case just not to the degree portrayed at trial.”

Court records show Miller and companions Danny Woods and Eddie Segura lured the furniture salesmen to Segura’s house for a delivery Feb. 2, 1982. When the pair arrived, they were confronted by Miller, armed with a handgun, and Woods, who pulled out a shotgun.

The two men were robbed, gagged and bound with electrical tape, then were taken to an area near Lake Houston in northeast Harris County.

Testimony showed Miller shot Mozingo in the head, firing at least five times and continuing to fire even after the bullets in his pistol ran out. Woods’ shotgun was fired with such force the wood stock broke.

Miller was arrested about two weeks after the slayings. He said he was involved in the robbery but not the shootings.

Segura pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery charges, was sentenced to two 25-year prison terms and was the key prosecution witness against Miller. He was released in October under mandatory supervision, a form of probation. Woods pleaded guilty to murder, received two life terms but did not testify. He’s next eligible for parole in April 2008.

A federal judge threw out Miller’s death sentence in 2004, ruling prosecutors improperly withheld evidence. But the following year, a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to reverse the lower court ruling.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

        

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