Judge to rule on repeat-offender status

WARREN — A hearing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court took place today to determine whether William R. Miller, 49, formerly of Cherry Avenue in Niles, should be designated a repeat violent offender.

Miller, convicted Thursday of rape and kidnapping a woman after meeting her in a Warren tavern, also was convicted in 1980 of raping two teenage females in the back of a car in Weathersfield Township.

Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, presented evidence of the 1980 conviction and questioned one of the victims of that rape Friday.

Judge Andrew Logan, who presided over Miller’s trial last week, will rule Tuesday whether the 1980 conviction makes Miller a repeat violent offender and will sentence Miller on the more recent conviction. Miller could get up to 30 years in prison. Miller served about 25 years for the 1980 rapes.