The Mattress Shooting: Verdict, Sentence, and Appeal

The Abilene mattress shooting began on the morning of September 1, 2018, as a dispute between neighbors over a mattress dumped in a shared alley dumpster on the 4300 block of Don Juan Street in west Abilene, Texas. It ended with 36-year-old Aaron Howard shot dead and his neighbors, 67-year-old Johnnie Dee Allen Miller and his son Michael Theodore Miller, charged with murder. A jury convicted Johnnie Miller in January 2023 and sentenced him to 14 years in prison, while acquitting Michael. A Texas appellate court affirmed the conviction on April 17, 2025.

How the Argument Started

Howard and the Millers lived next door to each other and shared the alley and dumpster behind their homes. The two households had been arguing over trash in the alley for several days, then-Abilene Police Chief Stan Standridge said at the time.¹

That morning, Howard put a mattress (or box spring) into the shared dumpster. Johnnie Miller pulled it back out. Howard confronted him, and the argument escalated. Miller told his son to bring him his concealed carry license and his shotgun “just in case.” Father and son returned to the alley armed, Johnnie with a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol and Michael with the shotgun. Howard was already yelling and pacing.²

The Shooting

Part of what followed was recorded on a cell phone by Kara Muntean, Howard’s fiancée, who was in the alley. The footage shows a tense standoff with Howard threatening to kill the Millers while they stood armed. Howard asked his friend Justin Campbell to bring him a gun; Campbell said it had been pawned and brought a baseball bat instead. Howard took it by the barrel.³

Muntean later testified that she stepped between the men at one point, and that Johnnie Miller drew and pointed his pistol while Howard was about ten feet away and had not made a physical threat.²

Johnnie Miller fired and hit Howard. Howard threw the bat, which bounced and struck Miller in the elbow. Michael Miller then fired the shotgun, and more pistol rounds followed. Howard was hit in the arm, chest, and head and died at an Abilene hospital.⁴ Deputy chief medical examiner Dr. Tasha Greenberg testified that both the pistol wounds to the chest and the shotgun wounds to the head were each sufficient on their own to cause death.⁵

Chief Standridge later highlighted a detail from the investigation: by the time Michael Miller fired the shotgun and Johnnie Miller fired his final two pistol rounds, Howard was unarmed. The bat was no longer in his hands.⁶

Arrests and the Four-Year Wait for Trial

Both Millers were detained at the scene and charged with murder that day. A justice of the peace initially set their bonds at $25,000 each, and both posted bail immediately. After public criticism, the 42nd District Court raised each bond to $250,000 on September 21, 2018, and the Millers were re-arrested.⁶

The case took more than four years to reach trial. Father and son were tried jointly in the 350th District Court in Taylor County starting January 23, 2023. Both had rejected plea offers of 25 years in prison.⁷

Why Self-Defense Was the Central Question

Defense attorney Justin Sparks built the case on Texas’s stand-your-ground principle, arguing the Millers had no duty to retreat and asking jurors to step into their shoes. He emphasized Howard’s size, roughly 6 feet 7 inches tall and 275 pounds, and his documented history of threats.⁸

That history was extensive. In May 2018, Howard got within one to two feet of Abilene code enforcement officer Josh Mares and threatened, “If you come back, you will be shot without warning,” leading to a charge of threatening a public servant.⁹ Four days before the shooting, Howard chased mail carrier Angel Montelongo to his truck, banged on it, and threatened to kill him; mail delivery to the entire street was suspended. One officer told the Millers that police had responded to roughly 23 to 27 prior cases involving Howard, and in a June 2018 incident Howard threatened to shoot officers who came to his property. Neighbors described him pulling Muntean to the ground by her hair and body-slamming Campbell on concrete.² Howard had been diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder and was taking Seroquel and Wellbutrin; Muntean said he had taken his medication that morning but that his temper could “flare up out of nowhere.”¹⁰

Lead prosecutor Dan Joiner acknowledged Howard’s temper but argued the response was wildly disproportionate. Howard was unarmed when Johnnie Miller first drew the pistol, did not get the bat until later in the confrontation, and witnesses placed him six to ten feet away when the first shot was fired. Joiner called the cell phone video a “key factor.”¹¹ Muntean testified she never saw Howard rush past her or try to strike Miller, and estimated he was never closer than seven or eight feet. She also told the jury that after the shooting, Johnnie Miller put his pistol to her head and said, “If you move, we’re going to kill you, too.”²

The video did not resolve the dispute cleanly. Muntean’s camera was pointed at Michael Miller when the initial shots were fired, so Howard was out of frame at the critical moment, leaving the jury to weigh conflicting accounts of distance and whether Howard was swinging the bat.²

The legal frame mattered. Under Texas Penal Code Section 9.31, a person lawfully present who did not provoke the confrontation has no duty to retreat. Section 9.32 allows deadly force only when it is “immediately necessary” to prevent another person’s use or attempted use of deadly force or certain violent felonies. Outside the home there is no automatic presumption that force was justified, verbal threats alone do not justify deadly force, and once self-defense is raised, the prosecution must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.¹²

The Split Verdict and Sentence

On January 26, 2023, after a week-long trial with 18 witnesses, the jury of seven men and five women found Johnnie Miller guilty of murder and acquitted Michael Miller.¹¹ The next day, the jury sentenced Johnnie Miller, then 72, to 14 years in state prison with no fine. Under Texas law, he is eligible for parole after serving half his sentence and receives credit for time already served.⁴

The Appeal and Current Status

Johnnie Miller appealed to the Court of Appeals of Texas, Eastland, raising five issues. He argued that the evidence was insufficient to overcome his self-defense claim, that the trial court wrongly refused three requested jury instructions, and that it improperly excluded testimony about Howard’s prior specific acts of violence. He also contended that the verdict was internally irrational, because acquitting Michael on a defense-of-father theory implied the threat to Johnnie was real.²

On April 17, 2025, the appellate court rejected all five issues and affirmed the conviction. Reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court held that a rational jury could have found Miller’s use of deadly force was not immediately necessary, and it deferred to the jury on the conflicting evidence about distance and whether Howard was within striking range. Johnnie Dee Allen Miller remains incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, serving his 14-year sentence.²

1
Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene Man Shot and Killed Over Argument in Trash Alley
2
FindLaw. Miller v. State
3
Abilene Reporter-News. Trial for Abilene Alley Shooting About a Mattress to Begin Monday
4
Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene Alley Shooting: Father Guilty of Murder, Not Son, in Killing
5
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Trial in Abilene Alley Shooting
6
CBS Austin. Father, Son Who Killed Neighbor Over Trash Re-Arrested, Bond Increased to $250,000
7
AOL. Jury Finds Father Guilty, Son Not Guilty
8
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Abilene Alley Shooting Trial
9
Big Country Homepage. Millers Trial Day Two: Witnesses Speak on Howard’s Behavior
10
Abilene Reporter-News. Abilene Alley Shooting: Victim’s Temper Detailed on Opening Day of Trial
11
KTXS. Split Verdict: Johnnie Miller Found Guilty, Michael Not Guilty
12
Texas State Law Library. Gun Laws: Stand Your Ground