NEW PHILADELPHIA − A Holmes County woman accused of killing her 4-year-old son in August by throwing him into Atwood Lake is due back in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court on Feb. 24.
A ruling on Ruth Miller’s not guilty by reason of insanity plea could be determined at the 2 p.m. hearing.
Attorney Ian Friedman had previously entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for Miller at her arraignment in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court on Sept. 8.
She is charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and endangering children.
A message seeking comment was left the morning of Feb. 24 for Tuscarawas County Prosecutor Ryan Styer, lead prosecutor in the case.
On Feb. 9, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Styer to be Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge to serve the remainder of the term of Judge Elizabeth Thomakos who resigned. Styer is set to be sworn in as judge on March 2. The Tuscarawas County Republican Party Central Committee is not expected to name Styer’s successor as county prosecutor until March 19. The Tuscarawas County commissioners can appoint an interim prosecutor.
Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Michael Ernest on Dec. 31 ordered Miller to undergo an independent forensic medical examination. Christopher Marett, a forensic psychiatrist for UC Health at the University of Cincinnati, was to examine her.
Miller, based on mental health assessments, could be found not guilty by reason of insanity in that mental illness prevented her from understanding what she was doing was legally wrong.
That would mean that the court would not hold a scheduled jury trial March 4.
If the court finds Miller not guilty by reason of insanity, Ohio allows the court to order her confined for years to get mental health treatment.
In August, Miller, her husband and four children, members of the Old Order Amish, traveled to the Tuscarawas County-shore of Atwood Lake from their Millersburg-area home, apparently to celebrate her 40th birthday.
In a bizarre chain of events on Aug. 23 where Miller and her husband Marcus Miller believed God wanted them to pass tests of faith, Marcus Miller drowned in the lake, and Ruth Miller threw her 4-year-old son Vincen into Atwood Lake as “an offering to God,” drowning him.
She also convinced her 18-year-old sons and 15-year-old daughter to jump into the lake, but they survived.
Ruth Miller has not been charged in her husband’s death.
(This story will be updated as new information becomes available.)
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Holmes County mother accused of drowning 4-year-old due back in court
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
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