Transient Gets 16 Years to Life in Fatal Beating
A transient man received the maximum possible sentence Wednesday for killing another homeless man with a wrought iron chair last year in El Monte.
Anthony Renaldo Miller, 30, was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison by Pomona Superior Court Judge David S. Milton for beating 60-year-old Richard Green to death last September.
The men had taken a train from Arizona to the El Monte area because it is easier to obtain welfare in California, lawyers said. Before returning to Arizona, the men checked into an El Monte hotel and began drinking.
Miller’s lawyer, Arthur Lindars, said his client shared a pint of vodka with Green and drank a large amount of beer. When Miller went to get more alcohol, he was locked out of the room for about half an hour, Deputy Dist. Atty. Manuel Garcia said. After being let back into the room, Miller killed Green with the chair.
Garcia said he was pleased with the verdict because it would keep Miller away from the public.
“If that’s all it took to have him kill a man, who knows what he would have been capable of if someone had really provoked him,” Garcia said.
Miller has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and has filed an appeal, Lindars said.
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