Doctors at Western State Hospital concluded that an Oak Harbor man accused of raping children isn’t currently competent to stand trial.
Michael W. Miller, 57, is facing four counts of rape of a child in the first degree for allegedly raping three girls as young as 8 years old over a period of years, according to documents filed in Island County Superior Court.
It wasn’t the first time that Miller was accused of sexually assaulting a child, court documents show. His son, who is in prison for child rape, claimed that his father also molested him, the records state.
Oak Harbor police brought out a SWAT team and armored vehicle in April to arrest Miller at a trailer park on Crosby Avenue.
At the request of Miller’s attorney, a judge ordered that Miller receive a competency exam at Western State Hospital. Mental health professionals found that Miller is not competent to stand trial, which means he lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings or to assist in his own defense as a result of mental disease or defect.
In response, Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom filed a motion to have Miller’s competency restored.
He explained that Miller will be sent back to Western State Hospital, where he will receive treatment — such as psychotropic drugs — to restore his competency. Under the charges he is facing, Miller can be committed for up to 90 days.
If the treatment doesn’t take — which Safstrom said would be very unusual — the prosecution would have the option of sending him back for a second restoration period. Safstrom said there are also other options, such as civil commitment.
Miller suffers from a seizure disorder and was on disability prior to his arrest, according to a forensic psychological evaluation filed in a case against his son, Christopher Miller.
Christopher Miller was convicted of first-degree rape of a child in 2011 for abusing a 6-year-old girl while he was babysitting her, which is what his father is now accused of doing to three children.
The forensic psychological evaluation states that Christopher Miller disclosed that his father also sexually abused him when he was a teenager.
In confessing to the crime, Christopher Miller told police that he was sexually abused and wanted to get help.
Christopher Miller originally was sentenced under the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative, which allows some sex offenders to serve reduced sentences if they undergo intensive treatment and comply with supervision.
Christopher Miller’s special sentence was revoked, however, because he became homeless when his parent’s trailer park refused to allow a sex offender to live in the home. He is serving an indeterminate sentence of seven years and nine months to life in prison.
