Lewisburg, Pa. — The attorney for a Union County woman convicted of murdering her husband and bilking him out of thousands of dollars attempted on Tuesday to convince a judge to grant her a new trial or acquit her.
Senior Judge Edward Reibsome, of Lehigh County, did not decide during the post-sentence motion hearing whether or not a new trial at the Union County Court of Common Pleas will be ordered. Alexander Silow, the attorney for Myrle Miller, said the trial in April 2023, in which the jury found Miller guilty of first-degree murder and fraud charges, was "based on speculation and circumstantial evidence."
Jennifer Buck, Prosecutor Senior Deputy Attorney for the state, represented the prosecution along with Union County District Attorney Brian Kerstetter. Buck pointed out that Miller's deceptive ways began years prior to her husband William Nichols' death, as she had filed for bankruptcy not long after their marriage and forged his signature. She also listed Nichols as her landlord, not her husband, on the paperwork and referred to herself as a widow. Miller's previous husband had died prior to her marrying Nichols and filing for the bankruptcy.
Miller, 79, of Winfield, was convicted and sentenced last year for killing Nichols, 77, on April 14, 2018. Nichols died at the couple's Lamey Road home in Millmont after taking a lethal dose of blood pressure medication Verapamil, which she reportedly administered to him. Miller also was convicted for draining Nichols' life savings over the six-year period that they were married. In total, she took more than $27,000 from Nichols' accounts.
Miller was sentenced in July to a mandatory life in prison sentence for first-degree murder and 148 to 294 consecutive months for felony counts of insurance fraud, theft by deception, forgery, perjury, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity. Reibman also ordered Miller to pay restitution of $395,546. Miller is currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy.
Silow, whose law practice is in West Chester, argued that Miller had a power of attorney (POA) for Nichols and this gave her the right to handle financial transactions, such as withdrawing money and writing checks. He argued that the accounts for Nichols were joint accounts with Miller, and that he had given her the right to the funds through the POA. "The jury made assumptions that Mr. Nichols never gave her the ability to do this," Silow said.
Silow also said that witnesses stated on several occassions that Nichols had mentioned it wasn't just his money, it was "their money." The purchases that Miller made with the money were "everyday expenses." Judge Reibsome then said, "At the end of the day, wasn't there no money left?" Silow again pointed out the money that Miller is accused of draining was out of joint accounts and was "their money," referring to Miller and Nichols.
Buck said Miller was taking money from Nichols' account and depositing it into her personal account. There were no large purchases, but there were a lot of purchases. "Certainly, Mr. Nichols would have never intended for Ms. Miller to deplete his entire life savings as power of attorney," Buck said.
As for the homicide charge, Silow said the Commonwealth says in order to be classified a homicide, it must be proven a human was killed. "The trial proved that a human died, but was not killed," he said. There were no eye witnesses to the killing of Nichols. He referred to a statement during the trial from Union County Public Defender, Brian Ulmer, in which he said, "No one saw Miller overmedicate Nichols."
Silow also pointed out that a witness testified that Nichols had a history of tending to overmedicate himself and also mix his medications with Miller's. The Verapamil, which is a blood pressure medication, that ultimately led to his death was one of Miller's medications. Nichols was not prescribed Verpamil. There were no witnesses that saw Miller give Nichols this medication on the day of his death.
Buck said the containers for the medications that were in Nichols' system when he died were never found. A lethal dose of Verapamil was found in Nichols' system. It was presumed that the medication bottles were hidden by someone so that no one could find them.
Buck pointed out April 5, 2018 was a pivotal day, when a case worker from Union-Snyder Area Agency on Aging visited with Nichols and he agreed to allow them to investigate his finances for potential exploitation. Nichols signed a document agreeing to the investigation. "Once she found out that the Area Agency on Aging was going to investigate, she knew she was stuck," Buck said. She looked into dividing assets after divorce and "decided to go another route."
Buck also mentioned Miller had done internet searches for lethal medications and professed her love to another man just hours before Nichols' death.
Reibsome said he will issue an opinion regarding the post-sentence hearing arguments.
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