Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry ...

Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry affirmed Lionel Miller’s death sentence. Miller, 59, white, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the Easter Sunday 2006 fatal stabbing of 72-year-old Jerry Smith and the attempted murder of a neighbor who tried to save her life. An Orange County jury found Miller guilty in November, and on Nov. 27 (see) voted 11-1 to recommend the death sentence. Miller has already served 35 years of his adult life behind bars. Neighbor Larry Haydon, who heard the screams, was stabbed once by Miller when he tried to stop the attack. Perry sentenced Miller to a life sentence for that attempted murder, plus two more life sentences for burglary and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.