By
The Associated Press
FLORENCE, Ariz. - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for the execution of a man sentenced to death for the 1992 murder of an 18-year-old Tucson woman.
Donald Miller, 36, was sent to Arizona Death Row seven years ago for the shooting death of Jennifer Geuder, who had asked for $50 per month in child support from Miller's friend.
The Supreme Court lifted a stay granted Tuesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which said there was evidence that Miller may not be competent and remanded the case to district court in Arizona for an evidentiary hearing.
The court denied a second request for a stay.
The state Attorney General's office had asked the court to lift the stay earlier yesterday and said the attorney who filed it had no standing.
"The state courts have already found that Miller was competent to stand trial," said Kent Cattani, chief of the death penalty appeals unit of the AG's Office.
Miller had previously said he was ready to die.
Miller declined to appear at his clemency hearing Tuesday and the state Board of Executive Clemency voted against blocking the execution. The Arizona Supreme Court denied a motion for a stay on Oct. 31.
"If he dies, that will deter him from maybe murdering someone else's daughter," said Ron Geuder, the victim's father. "The evidence was that Jenny was alive and that she struggled for her life."
Geuder said he received a letter from Miller on Christmas Eve 1998 in which the inmate said he remembered pulling the trigger "20 or more times, click, click, click."
Authorities said Jose Anthony Luna, the father of Geuder's then 13-month-old son, arranged her murder after she asked for child support money.
Luna and Miller took Geuder to a drive-in movie on June 12, 1992, then stopped by Miller's home to get his .25-caliber handgun. They drove to Mount Lemmon, where Luna shot Geuder once in the back of the head.
Geuder didn't die and the men took her to a desert area east of Tucson, where authorities said Miller shot her five more times.
Luna pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a prison sentence of 39 years to life.
