Accused Kissimmee cop killer ruled competent to stand trial
Sadia Baxter sat up straight as she heard the sound of chains echoing in the Osceola County courtroom Friday afternoon. Everett Glenn Miller, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran accused of killing Baxter’s husband and another Kissimmee police officer, was coming into the courtroom.
Miller, 45, entered in handcuffs and a striped red-andwhite jail jumpsuit. He glanced at the gallery and then sat quietly by his defense attorney.
Sadia Baxter looked at him and dabbed away tears throughout the hearing, in which the judge ruled that Miller is competent for legal proceedings to move forward. Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King filed notices this week to seek the death penalty for Miller.
“It was very emotional for Sadia Baxter and her family today,” Angela Starke, an FDLE spokeswoman, told reporters after the hearing. “It was her first time seeing Mr. Miller since the death of her husband. She just said she wished she could have
“She wants the community to know that she senses their prayers and is asking that they continue to pray for her and her little boys.”
FDLE spokeswoman Angela Starke, speaking for Sadia Baxter, wife of slain Kissimmee officer Matthew Baxter
said something to you today, but she can’t. It was just too raw.”
Officer Matthew Baxter, and his superior officer, Sgt. Richard “Sam” Howard, were shot on Aug. 18. Baxter died that night, and Howard the following day.
Howard’s family was not in court for the 15-minute hearing Friday.
Circuit Judge Greg Tynan read a summary of a mental health evaluation that Miller underwent and ruled that he can understand legal terms and communicate clearly with others.
A psychologist who examined Miller said he has a mental illness — though Tynan did not specify a diagnosis on Friday. Miller’s family has said he has post-traumatic stress disorder.
“This does not, however, render Mr. Miller incompetent to proceed,” Tynan said, reading the doctor’s report.
Tynan noted that Miller was not on any medications during the Aug. 29 evaluation and had not been since his arrest 11 days earlier.
After her husband’s death, Sadia Baxter, a former Kissimmee Police detective, was sworn in as a Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent — a job she was already planning on moving to before the shooting.
She did not speak during or after the hearing.
“She wants the community to know that she senses their prayers and is asking that they continue to pray for her and her little boys,” Starke said.
Miller, who was discharged in 2010 from the U.S. Marine Corps after a 21-year career, had been involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act about a month before the shooting. He had been prescribed medication to manage post-traumatic stress disorder, his family said, and was having trouble adjusting to civilian life after more than two decades of military service.
Matthew Baxter was on patrol Aug. 18 when he approached three people at the corner of Palmway and Cypress streets and told dispatchers he was talking to them, police said. He got on his radio soon after and asked for a supervisor’s help. A witness filmed a short video showing Miller arguing with him, saying he was not driving so Baxter did not have a reason to stop him.
Howard arrived about 20 minutes later. About five minutes later, neighbors called 911 and said they heard gunshots and saw two police officers lying in the street.
Miller was arrested at Roscoe’s bar on Orange Blossom Trail, where a friend told police he was “acting crazy, saying he just shot two cops,” a detective wrote in his report.
King’s office got the case from Gov. Rick Scott by executive order because Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala at the time refused to seek the death penalty in any case. She has since walked back that policy, but has said she will not try to get back the 29 cases taken from her office, including Miller’s.
Miller’s next hearing is set for Dec. 12.