DAYTONA BEACH — An inmate who attacked a correctional officer at Tomoka Correctional Institution was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer. He will be sentenced to life in prison.
Trevon Miller, 26, was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer. But the jury returned the guilty verdict on the lesser count of second-degree attempted murder. He was found guilty as charged on the other count.
The jury also determined that Miller qualified as a prison releasee reoffender and habitual violent felony offender, which means he will be sentenced to life in prison for the attempted second-degree murder count, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Miller’s sentencing is set for May 8.
Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston presided over the trial at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.
State Attorney R.J. Larizza stated in a press release that inmates should take note of the conviction.
“Correctional officers spend their days amongst some of the most violent and dangerous offenders,” Larizza stated. “They deserve our respect, praise and protection. Let this case be a warning to other inmates that they will suffer greatly when they harm our correctional officers.”
Inmate ambushed Tomoka Correctional Institution officer
Tomoka Correctional Sgt. Paul Lane, 59, was attacked on Sept. 27, 2021, about 2:30 a.m. as he returned from waking up inmates to start work in the prison’s kitchen. Lane was not yet a sergeant at the time. He was an officer. He had also battled cancer.
Miller was in Tomoka serving a 30-year sentence for armed burglary, armed kidnapping and sexual battery by force or deadly weapon from a 2016 conviction in Polk County.
Miller was hiding behind a doorway in a room between the dormitory and the officer’s control room. Miller had a shank, a crude knife fashioned from a piece of metal.
When Lane closed the door, Miller attacked him, according to trial testimony, near an eye, near an ear and in the back, near Lane’s spine.
Lane required between 18 and 20 stitches.
Lane wrestled with Miller in the room until Miller gave up and stopped the attack. Miller said he wanted to return to the dormitory. Lane opened the door for him and then got help.
“For a few seconds I had no idea what was going on and then I understand I’m being attacked,” Lane testified during the trial.
Lane also said that he had seen many shanks in his career as as correctional officer at different prisons. He said Miller’s shank was fortunately not that good. Had it been of better quality, it could have inflicted more damage.
Lane also testified that he was well-liked by inmates and that he believed that other inmates would have come to his aid had Miller attack him in their presence.
Correctional officers handcuffed Miller and that day he was moved to Florida State Prison in Raiford. He was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail during his trial.
Prosecutor said Tomoka inmate probably planned to escape
Chief Assistant State Attorney John Reid prosecuted the case along with Managing Assistant State Attorney Erica Kane.
“Today, you will hear that this man, Trevon Miller, the defendant, while an inmate at the Tomoka Correctional Institute, took a homemade prison shank and hid in the shadows at 2:30 in the morning to ambush Guard Paul Lane by viciously attacking him, stabbing Paul Lane repeatedly in the face and neck. In an attempt to aid in the inmate’s escape,” Reid told jurors during his opening statement.
He said that Miller had been hiding the shank in his bed.
Reid said Miller probably targeted Lane because he was smaller than a lot of the other guards.
Miller’s goal was probably to steal Lane’s uniform and keys to try to escape from the prison, Reid said.
After Lane woke up the inmates, he stepped into a room that leads to another door and the guard’s station. Lane went to shut the door, Reid said.
“When he moves the door, instead of a blank wall being behind the door, this man is waiting with a shank, and as soon as the door shuts, he pounces,” Reid said. “First shot hits the guard right below the eye, just barely misses his eye. The defendant continues to swing.”
Inmate says he panicked in fight with Tomoka state prison guard
Miller, who was represented by defense attorney, David Hoffmann, testified that he had panicked and got in a fight with Lane. Miller claimed he didn’t mean to stab Lane. Miller said he was holding the knife as he threw punches and that’s why Lane got cut.
Hoffmann at one point asked Lane whether he returned to work the same day.
Lane said he could have taken a week off but wanted to show the other inmates that you can’t just attack an officer.
“It was kind of a personal statement,” Lane said. “I wanted to be back to work and I asked them to put me back into the same dorm. Just to say, I’m tough enough. I can handle this job.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Inmate found guilty in knife attack on Tomoka state prison guard
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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