Jury acquits Casey poisoning suspect

LIBERTY — In a stunning verdict to a salacious case, a Casey County Circuit jury found Brittany Miller not guilty Thursday of poisoning her grandfather with antifreeze in hopes of inheriting his estate.
Miller, 20, reacted to the verdict with small smiles and hugs for her defense team and family members who had supported her during the four-day trial. She declined to comment afterward, other than to say she was “relieved.”
Miller’s lead attorney, Mark Stanziano of Somerset, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the jury’s decision, which came after 31⁄2 hours of deliberations.
“We always believed in our case,” he said.
The defense’s case seemed far-fetched from the outset. Stanziano told jurors during his opening statement that Leonard Walls drank the antifreeze himself after using Miller’s computer to search the Internet to find out how much he could ingest without it being lethal.
Walls poisoned himself to the verge of death in a desperate attempt to win back the attention of Miller, his beloved granddaughter, who was growing more interested in her boyfriend and other social opportunities outside the life he was providing for her, Stanziano maintained throughout the trial.