Annie Ferrin is emotional as she hugs a household good friend after an apology to their household obtained from the State of Utah on behalf of her mom, Valarie Clark Miller, in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
John Miller talks to reporters concerning the apology he and his household obtained from the state of Utah on behalf of his former spouse, Valarie Clark Miller, in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
Brooke Jacobs hugs her grandfather Denzel Clark after an apology to their household on behalf of her mom, Valarie Clark Miller, was obtained from the state of Utah on behalf of her mom in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
A photograph of Valarie Miller hangs close to her youngsters throughout a press convention concerning the apology the household obtained from the state of Utah, in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
After greater than 50 years, John R. Miller says his former spouse's title has lastly been cleared.
"Valarie's title was vilified for a lot of, a few years," the Utah businessman mentioned Tuesday. "To lastly get to the reality and the underside of that is gratifying and offers a measure of therapeutic for your complete household. ... It is a measure of justice and accountability."
On Monday, Miller's household obtained a letter of apology from the Utah Division of Public Security for not conducting a correct investigation in 1990 into allegations that a Utah Freeway Patrol lieutenant raped and threatened Valarie Clark Miller greater than 50 years earlier when she was 13 years outdated.
Paul Cassell, College of Utah Regulation Faculty professor and a former federal decide, labored with Miller's authorized group and mentioned the letter of apology is "the likes of nothing else I've ever heard of within the crime victims' rights subject.
"One thing that I believe is unprecedented within the historical past of Utah, maybe unprecedented even should you look extra broadly across the nation," he mentioned.
On Tuesday, Miller and his authorized group spoke for an hour, detailing the case of Valarie Clark Miller which included a PowerPoint presentation and even dwelling video clips from 40 years in the past. Numerous the Clark and Miller households have been current for the presentation, together with Valarie Miller's 92-year-old father.
Along with Cassell, John Miller's high-powered authorized group included retired federal prosecutor Richard Lambert, retired FBI particular agent Mike Anderson and retired Utah Supreme Court docket Justice Christine Durham.
Valarie Clark Miller was born in 1954 and raised in Clarkston, Cache County. In response to Lambert, Miller was first sexually assaulted by two males at knifepoint in 1968 within the loft of a barn. He says a 3rd man aided within the assault and watched.
John Miller talks to reporters concerning the apology he and his household obtained from the state of Utah on behalf of his former spouse, Valarie Clark Miller, in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
The lads have been greater than twice her age. One man was her neighbor and a distinguished member of city, in accordance with Lambert. On the time of the assault, he had simply been employed as a trooper for the Utah Freeway Patrol.
Lambert says Miller was sexually assaulted a number of extra instances after that and the trooper used his place of authority to threaten her and her household. On one event, the trooper stole the household canine and shot it together with his service revolver in entrance of the lady "to exhibit the seriousness of these threats," in accordance with the household's discover of declare.
The investigators say the person continued to sexually assault and terrorize her till she finally lied and informed him she was pregnant. The person "responded by beating Valarie and trying to drown her in a neighborhood reservoir," the discover says.
No legal expenses have been ever filed for the alleged abuse and nobody was ever arrested.
In 1975, Valarie Clark married John Miller and by 1984 that they had 4 youngsters collectively. However in 1985, one in all their daughters was hit by a truck and practically killed. Lambert mentioned the emotionally traumatic occasion triggered Valarie Miller to hunt remedy. It was throughout that point when Miller informed her therapist concerning the abuse that occurred when she was a toddler. Miller ended up receiving remedy at a facility in Kansas for a yr in 1989.
In 1990, fearing that another person could be abused, the Millers filed a grievance with the Utah Division of Public Security alleging that a man who was then a excessive rating member of the UHP was one of many males who assaulted her greater than 20 years earlier.
In response to Lambert and Anderson, the investigation carried out by the division was accomplished in only a month. Throughout that point, the inner affairs director of the division claimed that the trooper in query had taken and handed a polygraph take a look at, and that Miller's therapist had been interviewed and mentioned he didn't consider the lady.
The allegations of sexual assault towards the trooper have been decided to be "not sustained."
"For Valerie and John, the DPS investigation was their court docket of final resort and so they had obtained the decision," Lambert mentioned Tuesday.
At that time, "the Clarkston city gossip continues to unfold the lie: 'She was loopy and made up tales,'" he mentioned. "The decline in Valerie's bodily and emotional and psychological well being accelerated after this nonfinding. She died a bodily damaged and heartbroken girl at age 61 on July 7, 2017."
In response to her obituary, Miller died from problems of a number of sclerosis.
Brooke Jacobs hugs her grandfather Denzel Clark after an apology to their household on behalf of her mom, Valarie Clark Miller, was obtained from the state of Utah on behalf of her mom in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
In 2020, the Millers' son inspired his father to take one other take a look at the case. They employed the investigative group at WardLambert to simply take a look at the case for 30 days to see if there was something there, John Miller mentioned, although at this level they knew the statute of limitations for any potential legal expenses had expired.
Anderson mentioned it did not take him lengthy to appreciate that one thing wasn't including up with how the Utah Division of Public Security dealt with its investigation.
He spent three hours interviewing the previous director of inside affairs for the division. At first, Anderson mentioned the person continued to say that the lieutenant accused of raping Valarie Miller had taken a polygraph.
"Of curiosity to me, as that interview wore on, he fully backed off of that assertion to the purpose that on the finish of that interview he indicated that he didn't consider that (the lieutenant) had taken that polygraph," Anderson mentioned.
Moreover, Anderson mentioned the inner affairs director additionally insisted that he had talked to Miller's therapist.
"He insisted that that was the basic foundation — in his phrases the 'biggie' — the coupe de grace, which had triggered the closure of that investigation. And he indicated that therapist informed him that she was schizophrenic, that she was to not be believed and that these allegations have been with none sort of benefit," he mentioned.
"These statements are simply merely false."
Anderson mentioned the therapist informed him that the general public security division by no means contacted him and that he clearly remembered Miller and believed her allegations.
Anderson additionally interviewed the lieutenant on the middle of the investigation earlier than he died, and says the person continued to disclaim what had occurred and claimed he had handed a lie detector take a look at.
The investigation by Anderson concluded that the Utah Division of Public Security's inside affairs investigation lacked "regular, widespread procedures" and that "a radical, substantive investigation was not carried out."
In November 2021, John Miller and his attorneys filed a discover of declare with the state, stating they supposed to sue the state. Their lawsuit would come with the lieutenant, the previous inside affairs director, and former division Commissioner Doug Bodrero, whom Miller says headed the division on the time and was a superb good friend of the lieutenant.
"(The discover of declare ) alleges that the state lied deliberately, that it made false representations to John and Valarie, that these false representations have been designed to try to maintain John and Valarie from coming ahead and pursuing justice," Cassell mentioned.
On Monday, the state responded with a letter that Cassell referred to as "fairly extraordinary."
The letter type Utah Division of Public Security Commissioner Jess Anderson states that a new, thorough investigation was carried out in cooperation with the Utah Lawyer Common's Workplace.
"I've concluded that the factual allegations you increase in your discover of declare and subsequent communications about DPS actions in 1990 relaxation on a basis of intensive and disturbing proof. Whereas it sadly seems that there isn't a authorized recourse that I can take to proper the improper that was accomplished to Mr. and Mrs. Miller greater than three many years in the past, the least I can do is to specific my deep remorse to John R. Miller and members of the family of Valarie Clark Miller for the emotional misery suffered by Mrs. Miller, Mr. Miller and the household on account of the actions described in your discover of declare."
Anderson additional states in his letter that inside investigations are carried out a lot in another way right now than 30 years in the past and mentioned the division shall be hiring an outdoor company to evaluate the insurance policies and procedures presently in place.
A photograph of Valarie Miller hangs close to her youngsters throughout a press convention concerning the apology the household obtained from the state of Utah, in Salt Lake Metropolis on Tuesday.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
When requested if he believes if the division is definitely acknowledging that a cover-up came about, Lambert mentioned, "They did not use the phrase 'cover-up' or 'obstruction of justice.' But when walks like a duck and quacks like duck, it is a duck."
For Miller, he says he accepts the apology and won't file a lawsuit. There additionally shall be no authorized motion towards the 2 males who allegedly raped his spouse as a result of the lieutenant died in August and the opposite man died a few years in the past. As for the person who they are saying watched the assault and helped, Anderson says he's presently in jail in Colorado and shall be transferred to the Utah State Jail when he's launched from Colorado to serve a doable life sentence right here.
Miller says when he pursued doable authorized motion, it was by no means about getting cash.
"It was actually about simply attending to the underside about what actually occurred," he mentioned, whereas including he had 4 aims when the investigation began. "At the start was to clear Valarie's good title … and second was to convey a measure of justice and accountability to the assailants and people concerned within the cover-up."
He mentioned the third goal was to assist the Clark and Miller households discover closure. And fourth was to encourage others who could have been the victims of sexual abuse from years in the past that they'll nonetheless step ahead.
"Historical past is a strategy of trying to find the reality and why issues occur. Honesty makes higher historical past. Why? The reality issues and the reality units us free," Miller mentioned.