Did a 57-year-old Brown County man pull out a gun as he was threatening two deliverymen at his home last fall?

A jury of eight women and four men could not agree on an answer to that question, resulting in a mistrial for Drew Miller on July 2.

Miller decided to accept a plea deal on July 8 instead of being tried a second time. His Level 5 felony charge was reduced to a Class A misdemeanor and he was released from jail the same day due to time served.

Prosecutor Ted Adams said last week that part of offering the plea deal was due to the victim’s desire to “never have to be in court again.”

“It was traumatic for him,” Adams said.

Miller was charged with the felony in November. Police said he threatened an Amazon delivery driver with a gun in September because of the driver’s ethnicity, according to court documents filed at the time.

The jury deliberated for seven hours. Ten jurors were in favor of finding him guilty and two believed he did not commit felony-level intimidation.

Defense attorney Matt Schulz argued that in order to find Miller guilty, the jury had to decide that he had actually pointed a gun at the two men instead of just possessing it, as gun possession is legal under the Second Amendment.

Adams and his team said that a person can act in a racist manner and can even use forceful language to get someone off their property. But “Drew Miller crossed way over the line when he threatened the life of a deliveryman while armed with a gun,” Adams said.

The charges were filed against Miller after a year filled with discussions and demonstrations about racial justice and human rights around the country and in Brown County.

The victim is from Bangladesh but had lived in the United States since 2008. Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Shane Jackson wrote in his report that Miller had told the white deliveryman with the victim to tell Amazon if they ever send anyone but a white man to his house, he is going to shoot them.

On July 8, Miller was sentenced to 320 days in the Brown County jail, but he had already served that sentence. His bond was revoked in January because he was picked up for driving drunk with a prior conviction. As a result, he was in the jail until his trial on the intimidation charge started.

Miller also pleaded guilty to a Level 6 felony for operating while intoxicated and received a two-year jail sentence, but all but five days were suspended to probation. He will be required to take alcohol and mental health counseling.

“It was important to the state of Indiana and to our community that Drew Miller accept responsibility for his actions on Sept. 14, 2020,” Adams said about the case last week.

“He admitted he was very angry, that he was letting loose a tirade of words and that he had no reason to doubt that he threatened Pranab Kabiraj (the victim),” Adams said.

Requiring Miller to do alcohol and mental health counseling “is designed for Mr. Miller to look inward, confront and, hopefully, triumph over the internal demons he struggles with. Our goal was to hold Mr. Miller responsible for these actions.”

Back to September

On Sept. 14, 2020, police were dispatched to Miller’s home on Bean Blossom Road after Dustin Smith, a worker for Prime Time Logistics, reported that during a delivery, a homeowner pulled a gun on him and another employee, Kabiraj. Smith, who is white, testified that he was riding along with Kabiraj, acting as his trainer that day. Prime Time Logistics was a subcontractor for Amazon.

The police report said that Miller exited his truck with a chrome-plated .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol, calling the victim several names referring to his ethnicity and telling him he should go back to where he came from. Miller allegedly said if the man did not get off his property, he was going to shoot him.

Miller did not notice Smith in the passenger seat immediately. Once he did, he exited his truck and told him to let Amazon know if they ever send anyone but a white man to his house, he was going to shoot them on site, Smith testified in the trial.

“I want to say thank God Dustin Smith was there,” Adams said.

“What would have happened to Pranab?”

The two deliverymen left the home and immediately called their employer, who told them to call 911, according to Smith’s testimony. They met police at their next delivery stop.

“He (Kabiraj) kept saying, ‘I am just delivering your packages. I don’t know what I did to you,’” Smith testified on July 1.

Miller told police that he had seen the driver pick up rocks to throw at his dogs. He initially denied that he pulled a gun, but he later told police that he did have one behind his back and the deliverymen must have seen it when he was getting out of his truck, the police report said.

Smith testified that Kabiraj was carrying a device that emits sounds to keep dogs away, which looked similar to a rock. Smith said Kabiraj was using it to try to get away from the dogs that had frightened him and were following him. He brought the device with him to the trial.

As soon as Miller turned into his driveway he started yelling and using expletives, Smith testified.

At the trial, Smith and Kabiraj both testified to seeing a gun in Miller’s hand. Smith testified to multiple racist remarks Miller made toward Kabiraj.

“You don’t want a gun pointed at you in any degree, but I was more brokenhearted, to be completely honest. I kept apologizing to Mr. Pranab. I was embarrassed, to be completely honest,” Smith said.

Adams — who described himself as a “gun enthusiast” — said that Miller lied when he said he did not pull his gun after exiting his truck.

“There is not a reasonable gun owner in the United States that would argue getting a weapon out of your truck is pulling your gun. Whether it’s in a holster, in a vehicle or safe, you pull it out, you’re pulling it.”

Inconsistencies

After the incident was first reported to police, Kabiraj and Smith were interviewed together due to his limited English. At the trial, Smith and Kabiraj testified separately, with noted inconsistencies.

Kabiraj testified there were no dogs at the home and that he did not have a device in his hand that emitted sounds to keep dogs away. He also testified that he never spoke to Miller, and that he immediately jumped in the van after delivering the packages instead of circling it to lose the dogs.

Smith testified that he had been riding along to train Kabiraj that day. However, Kabiraj testified that he was training Smith that day on how to scan packages.

“He (Miller) had a firearm. That is not a dispute. Whether he did anything other than have it, that is a dispute,” Schulz said.

Adams and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rob Seet both asked the jury to picture themselves in Kabiraj’s shoes, to imagine if they were in a court in Bangladesh using an interpreter while accusing a resident of a felony, and how intimidating that alone would be. Adams said that trauma also can affect how a person remembers an event. He said that two people can witness the same event and tell it differently, but neither would be lying.

Seet argued that almost a year has passed since the incident. In that time, there was a global pandemic, then Kabiraj returned to Bangladesh to care for his 100-year-old parents.

“You walk into a Bangladesh courtroom, the judge looks like the person you accused. Every juror looks like the person you accused. The prosecutor — who is supposed to be helping you — looks like person you accused. The police looks like the person you accused. The defense attorney looks like the person you accused,” Seet said.

“Could some things be lost in the translation in that situation? Could that rattle someone?”

Despite the inconsistencies, Adams said that Kabiraj was able to get to the heart of the case: that Miller was yelling at him, and he had a gun.

“The man said, ‘No Asian or Black person should come into this area, into this locality,’” Kabiraj said through his interpreter.

‘Insufficient’

Schulz argued that the two deliverymen lied about what happened because Kabiraj could have been fired or reprimanded per Amazon’s policy for throwing rocks at Miller’s dogs, and that is why their stories were inconsistent.

Miller also reportedly contacted Amazon about the incident, but Schulz said law enforcement did not follow up with what he reported. He also argued that the police did not do any other follow-up interviews and evidence gathering, like taking photos of their uniforms that day that would help explain if Miller was able to recognize them right away as Amazon drivers or not.

“Insufficient,” Schulz said of the investigation.

Schulz said that Miller came home that day and found a man yelling at his dogs, with rocks in his hand, about to throw them at his pets. He asked the deliverymen to leave and exited his truck with his pistol behind his back. He told Smith to tell Amazon not to have Kabiraj deliver to his house again if he was going to throw rocks at his dogs, Schultz said.

Schulz said that Miller was “adamant” he did not pull his pistol or say that Amazon should send only white deliverymen to his home. He then reported the incident to Amazon.

At the start of the trial, Schulz asked the jurors to think about whether or not the investigation was “an attempt to figure out what happened or corroborate an allegation?”

Adams defended the police investigation. He said they collected the facts and statements needed for a report.

Schulz also argued that Smith’s story had changed four times, each time including more racist or violent remarks. He said his story differed from the original 911 call because Smith did not mention any racist remarks and said Miller came “running up with a gun.”

Adams said that using Schulz’s argument, anyone had better be ready when they call 911 to give every detail and fact they know to dispatch despite being shaken up.

“I didn’t mention a lot of things. I had a gun waved around at me and was told I would be shot,” Smith testified about his 911 call. He said he shared enough to get the police out there.

The prosecution and Smith both reported that Miller was yelling the entire time he was pulling down his driveway and continued to yell once he exited his truck, even changing his racist remarks after realizing Kabiraj was not Black once he was closer.

Smith is a former police officer and former federal investigator. He also is a military veteran. Adams asked the jurors what motive a random deliveryman with law enforcement and combat experience would have to lie about what happened for a co-worker he barely knew.

In a written statement last week, Adams that said his office respects the rights of citizens, including property, gun and First Amendment rights. “However, threatening to kill somebody while armed with a gun when that person is simply delivering a package goes way over the line,” he said.

“This is not who we are as a community.”