Released on shock probation in 2017 after being convicted of a 2014 teen sexual assault in Hopkinsville, Samual Miller was in Christian County Circuit Court again Thursday morning for a probation revocation hearing.
Judge John Atkins, however, was unable to have complete revocation because Miller’s defender, Michael Thompson, filed a motion with the Kentucky Court of Appeals involving a writ of prohibition — one that would prevent Atkins from conducting the said hearing.
Atkins also denied the release of Miller, and these efforts were continued to September 7.
Miller reportedly violated the terms of his probation within the last two years, after serving a shade more than 15% of a 13-year sentence.
He is one of three men, alongside Tyler Perry and Colton Cavanaugh, who struck plea deals in exchange for testimony against Dayton Ross Jones. The quartet garnered a litany of charges surrounding the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy at a house party — before distributing their videoed exploits via text messaging and Snapchat, a social media application.
According to numerous reports and the original indictment, the juvenile was passed out from intoxication before being severely injured internally, as several males took turns using a sex toy.
Jones can be heard talking in the video.
A day after Miller and Perry pleaded guilty to various related offenses, Cavanaugh entered a guilty plea to amended charges of first-degree sodomy and first-degree wanton endangerment.
Jones, meanwhile, entered into a guilty plea agreement to the production of child pornography during an October 2021 appearance in federal court, which ordered a 10-year sentence and $50,000 in victim restitution.
The entire case attracted statewide attention, when former Governor Matt Bevin commuted Jones’ 15-year sentence in December 2019. Jones was serving time in jail after he pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal in 2016 in Christian County Circuit Court — following charges of sodomy, wanton endangerment and distribution of material depicting the sexual performance.
