[1]Weston G. Miller goes before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court to plead not guilty to murder.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Centralia resident Weston G. Miller pleaded not guilty today in the March shooting death of his houseguest at Miller’s B Street home.
The former welder has been held in the Lewis County Jail since his arrest, unable to make his pleas to first-degree murder because of a question whether he was competent to stand trial.
Miller, 30, told police he acted in self-defense, but prosecutors say it was unprovoked attack when he shot 43-year-old David Wayne Carson twice in the chest area.
Miller pleaded not guilty today to first-degree murder and five counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in Lewis County Superior Court.
When police searched the home they found five guns, a silencer, a laser site for a gun and a bullet-proof vest, according to charging documents.
Miller’s only criminal history includes a two-year-old fourth-degree assault gross misdemeanor, but that meant he was prohibited from possessing guns.
Carson, a Centralia resident who had just signed up for college and was going to learn to fly so he could go work in Alaska, died on March 13.
A trial was set for the week of February 4.
Miller’s attorney J.P. Enbody has said the issue of insanity – at the time of the incident – could still come up.
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For background, read “B Street homicide: Defendant says self defense” from Wednesday March 14, 2012, here [2]