Jurors are set to return to court Friday, Nov. 17, to consider a verdict in the homicide trial of Alec D. Miller

Miller testified as the only witness in his own defense Thursday and said he shot Maximillian W. Halterman in self-defense.

Miller is accused of entering Halterman's home in Oakland Township on the evening of March 19, 2019, shooting him in the head and neck, and leaving with drugs and money. Miller was 19 at the time of the homicide. He is now 23 and being held at Butler County Prison.

The trial is being presided over by Judge Timothy F. McCune.

On the fourth day of the trial, defense attorney Jennifer Popovich thanked the jury for their time and attention, and she explained why Miller was testifying.

“You’re going to hear about what really happened inside that residence,” she said. “Pay close attention to what (Miller) tells you.”

Miller introduced himself to the jury and said he sold drugs for Halterman.

“Me and (Halterman), we was friends; we wasn’t the best of friends,” he said, describing it as a “business relationship.”

While unfolding the events of March 19, 2019, Miller said he encountered Halterman at a nearby store. According to Miller, Halterman invited him over to his home that night.

“ (There was) an on and off dispute about some money I’d owed him,” he said.

Miller explained he had yet to pay Halterman for $1,300 to $1,400 worth of cocaine, which Miller’s former girlfriend, Lamaria Franklin, had flushed down the toilet a few weeks before.

Franklin testified to that Tuesday.

According to Miller, Halterman had said a gun could go toward the debt. Guns are used as currency “all the time” in the drug dealing world, Miller said.

“I really didn’t want to take my family’s guns … I wanted it to be resolved as quickly as possible,” he said.

Miller testified that he took his brother’s Savage Axis rifle and drove his grandfather’s truck down to Halterman’s home. He waited in the vehicle for a few minutes, he said, thinking Halterman would come outside.

“I had a job; I was just trying to stay out of trouble,” Miller said.

Miller then brought the gun into the house, and he said Halterman was sitting on the couch.

“I think me coming in the door kind of startled him a little bit” he said. “He pulled a gun on me, I fired once. He was still moving, I wasn’t sure if I shot him or not, so I pulled a little closer and shot him again.”

Miller said he was nervous and “panicked.”

“It shouldn’t have happened like that,” he said. “I was trying to check on him, but it was clear he was dead.”

He testified that he tried going through Halterman’s vehicles to find “camera stuff,” as Halterman had shown him previously that there was surveillance outside.

During later cross examination, Miller said he was looking to delete the camera footage.

He told the jury he went back inside, grabbed the rifle, and left.

When asked by Popovich if he was under the influence of drugs that day, Miller said he’d snorted heroin.

Miller said from Halterman’s home he went to pick up Franklin on Bessemer Avenue in Butler. He said he couldn’t clearly remember if he’d sent text messages about the incident to Robert Dunbar, who testified Monday about their communications.

“At that time, I was high out of my mind,” Miller said.

He testified he and Franklin left his grandfather’s truck at Greenview Apartments and went to the home of Dunbar’s brother. From there, they were taken to Venango County, where Franklin’s father was living at the time.

Miller said he convinced Franklin to go to the police.

“I told her, ‘You need to go back to Butler and have an interview with police. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you,’” he said.

During cross examination, assistant district attorney Laura Pitchford asked Miller when he loaded the gun to go over to Halterman’s home, since previous testimony indicated the guns were kept unloaded with the safety on.

“It was already loaded,” he answered.

Pitchford also asked if Halterman had made any threats toward Miller, to which Miller replied he had not.

“I didn’t think a little $1,300, $1,400 was bigger than our friendship,” he said.

He also said he was not sure what happened to the gun Halterman allegedly pulled on him, and Pitchford asked how he was able to shoot Halterman twice in quick succession.

“I don’t think you understand how fast it occurred,” Miller said.

Many questions were asked about how Halterman was positioned when Miller entered the home, and how it was possible to shoot him on the side of the face if Halterman was facing him.

“I can’t testify to what (the expert) testified to,” Miller said.

When asked if he’d had five years to think about his story, Miller answered, “I’ve had five years to say what happened.”

In closing arguments, defense attorney Charles Nedz said the last thing Miller wanted to do was kill Halterman.

“They are neighbors, they are friends, they know each others families … he doesn’t want that debt hanging over his head,” he said.

He summarized Miller’s testimony, playing the surveillance footage outside of Halterman’s residence for the jury.

Nedz said Miller was not “sneaking around,” in the video, and that planning to kill Halterman would be “the dumbest thing in the world.” He said the events unfolded due to a “split-second decision.”

He said Miller doesn’t know what happened to the gun Halterman allegedly pulled, and said two people who entered the home later that night “can tell you what happened.”

“If you look at (Miller’s) actions, this is not something he planned to do,” Nedz said.

He asked the jury to find Miller not guilty.

Pitchford’s closing argument included crime scene and autopsy photos, as well as more lyrics from Miller’s rap song which was played to the jury Wednesday.

“I agree with the defense that the reason Miller went to Halterman’s house that night was to wipe a debt clean,” she said. “But it wasn’t to pay it. It was to wipe it clean execution-style.”

The debt was Miller’s motive, she said, noting that the alleged meeting at the store earlier that day was a very public place for a negotiation.

Pitchford also went over the messages allegedly exchanged between Dunbar and Miller that night.

“I don’t think when you put that in Google Translate it’s going to say, ‘I shot him in self-defense,’” she said.

She showed the jury the autopsy photos again, and photos of Halterman’s living room as it was found on March 20, 2019.

“(Miller) doesn’t shoot him once. He shoots him twice,” she said. “He wanted to make sure he was dead.”

As far as the truck Miller used, Pitchford said there was a reason he didn’t return it to his grandparents right away.

“He was worried, he just killed someone, and he knew he didn’t have a defense for it, because it was an execution,” she said. “What actually happened was that the defendant wanted to wipe his slate clean.”

Pitchford asked the jury to consider which scenario was more reasonable.

“Today, you saw the story (Miller) wanted you to see, the story he’s been thinking about for five years,” she said.

After several hours of deliberations, McCune said the jury would reconvene Friday morning.