Attorneys for City-County Councilman Jeff Miller request special prosecutor in molestation case

Attorneys for City-County Councilman Jeff Miller have requested a special prosecutor be assigned to his child molestation case.

The petition was entered on Miller's behalf Wednesday, online court records indicate. Miller's attorney, Jennifer Lukemeyer, declined to comment on the petition Wednesday night. Messages to a representative of the Marion County prosecutor's office were not immediately returned.

Miller is accused of fondling two young girls at his Fletcher Place home, according to a probable cause affidavit. He faces three felony counts of child molestation, each carrying a sentence of two to 12 years in prison if convicted.

A Hendricks County judge was assigned to the case after a Marion County judge recused himself, citing a conflict of interest.

Miller was arrested Nov. 17 after one 10-year-old girl told her parents Miller would sometimes massage her, "accidentally" touching her skin under her shirt and "where the legs meet the groin," according to a probable cause affidavit. Another 10-year-old girl told police that Miller would sometimes grab her butt during piggy-back rides.

On Oct. 21 Miller gave a statement to Indianapolis police in which he said he would play with and massage the girls but expressed surprise that the contact had been perceived as sexual.

"That's how she felt," Miller told police, referring to one girl. "I'm, I'm fine with that. Not fine with the situation. I'm saying that's how she felt. Period. I mean, yeah, nothing more to say other than that. (I) feel like an idiot. Desperately sorry, and that's her right. And that can't be taken away."

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In interviews with police, Miller never denied touching the girls and told police he would "defer to them."

"If I've done something they're uncomfortable with ... perception is reality," he said, according to court documents.

Miler told police that he had a basket of massage tools and had used some of them on the girls but that he had never had sexual thoughts or feelings during those massages. He also denied intentionally touching the girls inappropriately during piggy-back rides in a game he called "Ride the Wild Jeff Beast."

Miller, a Republican, has two years remaining in his second term on the City-County Council. He represents a Downtown district that includes Fountain Square, Mars Hill, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the White River State Park.

As of Wednesday, Miller had not resigned his position.

Marion Superior Judge Mark Stoner recused himself from the case earlier this month, saying that since Miller's district includes the area under consideration for a new justice center campus and because Miller has the power to approve or deny the judiciary's expenditures, the entire Marion County judiciary has a conflict of interest.

Miller is scheduled to make an initial appearance in a Hendricks County court on Dec. 4.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.



