Defense Says Teenager Killed While ‘Freaked’ on Drugs

A teenager admits shooting an eighth-grader to death last year, but claims he was “wigged out” on methamphetamine as he pulled the trigger and wasn’t trying to steal the boy’s stereo, his lawyer told jurors Tuesday.

“Tommy Miller is responsible. He did kill Carl Claes,” defense attorney William Morrissey said. “He had no understanding of why he’d done what he’d done. He was scared. He was freaked.”

Morrissey addressed the jury for the first time Tuesday as the defense began presenting evidence on behalf of 17-year-old Miller and his alleged accomplice, 19-year-old Jason Merrit, both of Tustin.

Prosecutor Carolyn Kirkwood presented a different scenario at the start of her case earlier this month, alleging a dispute over Miller’s refusal to return Claes’ $2,500 stereo system led to the 14-year-old’s death.

Miller, who is being tried as an adult, faces up to life in prison without parole if he is convicted of murder and robbery. Merritt, who allegedly accompanied Miller and waited nearby as the shooting took place, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if he is found guilty of murder.

Claes’ body was found May 17, 1995, on a dirt path in the affluent Lemon Heights community, about three miles from the home he shared with his grandfather.

The prosecutor said Miller shot Claes in the head over the stereo system dispute. Then, afraid that Claes might not be dead, Miller returned a few minutes later and shot him again. After their arrest, the two defendants were secretly recorded in their jail cell allegedly concocting a cover-up story for the killing.

Morrissey said his client was out of control on methamphetamine on the night of the killing and suffers from brain damage consistent with heavy use of the drug. Miller, lacking adult supervision at home, started selling and heavily using methamphetamine, turning into what friends described as an “irritable, irrational idiot,” his attorney said.

“He was going right down the toilet, and here we are today, because he is down the toilet,” Morrissey said.

On the night of the slaying, Miller gathered Merritt and Claes together to rob a house in the secluded Lemon Heights neighborhood, first borrowing a gun from another youth, the defense attorney alleged.

When Claes backed out of the robbery, Miller shot him and fled to wait for Merritt, who was driving around, Morrissey said. Miller admits returning and shooting Claes again, but can’t say why he did such a thing, his lawyer said.

Merritt has denied any involvement in the shooting.

Danella George, the victim’s mother, angrily denied her son was friends with the two defendants, calling them “predators” who were out to extort the stereo from the boy at a vulnerable time in his life following the death of his grandmother.