Reader comments
Miller gets jail for blast that nearly killed a boy

This Could Have Been Me | 5:28 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I think back on all the "stupid stuff" I did just messing around. Thank goodness Bridger's life has been spared and thank goodness his family has choosen to take the higher road even though Bridger will never know what it will be like to have a normal life. I believe this will truly be a blessing because they have allowed it to be. It is refreshing to me and helps to restore faith in humanity that they made this choice.

In our litigious world I'm sure there are scores of attorney's licking their chops over this one. I hope they and others in like circumstances can rise above and change what seems to have become the norm.

May we all be more wise in our thoughts and more considerate in our actions.

Selfish of Society | 6:25 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Pay a debt to society? By keeping him in jail he will not be able to work for these 21 days to help pay off Bridgers medical bills. It's the prosecutors job to make sure he gets jail time, just for the sake of saying he is doing his job.

bartonjabber | 6:44 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Everything happens for a reason. I am so glad that both parties can work towards a tomorrow and better themselves. You can't change the past; you can improve the future and the best way to do it is without hate. These people are the BEST examples!

Comments continue below

Not Fair? | 6:51 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

What a sad story but a happy ending for Bridger to be out of the hospital and I hope that he is doing good, What a not so happy ending for Craig Miller after the family pleaded with court people but look what happened, Life's not fair

Pale Bear | 6:56 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Man. If we could just be like both of these families--truly penitent when wrong, truly forgiving when wronged.

Julie | 7:06 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I am so glad I am not the judge in this case. I wouldn't be able to make a decision. Like the family of the victim said. It was a dumb thing to do. But we all do dumb things.

Mike R. | 7:52 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Most likely he will do nights and weekends in Jail while working to support his family and pay restitution. That would be a fair compromise.

Anonymous | 7:53 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I don't get why they put people in jail for this kind of thing, they need to be working to help pay for thier stupidity. I think the anklet deal for the entire time is the best idea. I am glad that they are only sentencing him to 21 days in jail!
After hearing about this story, I think everyone needs to get an umbrella policy. (An insurance policy that protects you from stupid stuff you do like this.) People are also ignorant with their car insurance plans and their agents give them full coverage for a rediculously small amount like $25,000. These people are underinsured. Find an agent that will automatically cover you for $300,000 to $500,000. It's not much more money than you are already paying and it's safer to be driving on the road. Everybody is going to do something dumb, including while driving.

Fair or not | 8:08 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

That's the decision and we all live with it. It could have been years in jail, 21 must certainly be tolerable. Craig's doing all he can to pay for things, living in substandard conditions so Bridger can have what he needs.

Steve Smith | 8:27 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Just what you'd expect from the so-called land of the free. Put another poor citizen in the slammer. How much of the U.S. population is in jail? No other country incarcerates as large a percentage as does the U.S. of A. You people are scary. U.S. judges tend to be vindictive, nasty people. Maybe once your government cleans up the rest of the world it can look inward and clean up the mess in your own land.

k | 9:07 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

What do they hope he learns by going to jail? Why do people think that more can be learned in jail than just the natural grief we feel whn we mess up.

Cindy | 9:18 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Hope all these people will be blessed.

Agree w/ K | 9:53 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I don't know what's being accomplished by taking this guy out of society for 21 days. Is he going to learn his lesson any more?

His real punishment is the guilt he feels and the money he'll likely be paying to the victim for the rest of his life to help pay for the damage. What more does he deserve than that? That's hefty enough if you ask me.

Is he going to have some epiphany in jail about what he's done that he hasn't had already? He may even come out a worse, more jaded person.

This just seems like an unimaginative punishment that doesn't fit the crime. If we really think he deserves more than what he's gotten already, why not slap him with some community service that would benefit us all?

Whatever...

azrebinga | 10:06 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

we all do stupid stuff. In an era where most people try to escape their guilt, or sue for the smallest petty offense, it's so refreshing to see where 2 people understand what it is to feel true remorse, and to ask for and receive forgiveness. Is there a fund anywhere, that people could donate to help Mr. Miller with the restitution? As for being a member of the society to which the owes his "debt", I'd be willing to forgo my portion, and at the same time help out with the nearly 2 million they have in medical bills.

Anonymous | 11:04 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I was so touched by the forgiveness shown by the victim's family, and the humility shown by Mr. Miller in acknowledging his mistake and showing true remorse. Yes, a mistake was made. But wow --- we need more people like this who own up and don't try to hide it, and also those willing to forgive.

The Rest of the Story | 11:33 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

AFTER helping Miller evade more serious punishment and AFTER forgiving him and AFTER the sentencing, Bridger and his mother got a big surprise. They had been promised $55,000 from Miller's home sald...but they found out it's been mostly spent already.

Bridger's mother was later offered a very small percentage of the money, as a "settlement".

They are not happy about this, after having worked so hard on Miller's behalf.

(The Deseret News has refused to post my previous message on this topic -- why would that be?)

John C. | 11:39 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I think the judge erred. It was a mistake. What about children who eat toxic materials and die. Should parents also be jailed for stupidity?

BOMB | 11:48 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

The device was not a firework. Fireworks are made with paper and cardboard not steel. This man made a bomb plain and simple what purpose could he also have had to make a bomb maybe it was a test bomb and the real target could be at risk by this man. I was in the army and know what makes a bomb. The federal government should have been brought in.

Already been said but... | 11:49 a.m. Dec. 3, 2008

....I will say it again, given the circumstances and obvious behavior of Miller (selling his house) what in the world are the courts/criminal justice system wasting 21 days of jail expenses on this guy for?

Even more of a joke is why we are buying an ankle bracelet to put on him. Ya, this is a serious criminal we all need to track and live in fear of. Pleeez!!

Let the guy get to work helping out the victim and assisting to pay the medical bills. Instead though the decision is to put him in jail and PREVENT him from helping the victim!!

Give him a financial restitution and he is convicted--is there really much purpose in this other garbage???

Duh!!!

B Cook | 12:28 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

What is the judge thinking? A GPS monitoring device and jail time. The remorseful Mr. Miller is not a threat to society, nor is he trying to escape his responsibilities of restitution. Has all common sense been lost from the judicial system?

waste of tax payers money | 12:45 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

With the city cuts and police cuts why did we waste money on the trial in the first place. We should take the money from stupid trials like this an give police a raise. We need to be able to vote for these prosecutors so we can vote the bums out. Remember the dad that went hunting and left his kid in the truck and the kid got out and was lost and died in the cold. We put dad in jail and the guilt made him hang himself. Scary to think we are a good citizen and go to work one day cause a wreak in the car as some bone head prosecutor wants us in jail. I am sure with a record this guy will be able to get a good job and help the boy. In the end they will both be in financial ruins. we need nation health care system.

Re: BOMB | 12:59 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

You're wrong in multiple ways. It was not a bomb - it was an open system. It had been used successfully as a firework previously. To say he was targeting someone is just plain asinine.

Debt to Socitey? | 1:12 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

As a member of "Society", I can honestly say that I could care less if Miller serves jail time. Why should my tax dollars be used to house and feed him in a jail at this point? It's obvious that he's penitent. It's more important for him to pay his debt to Bridger and his family.

Seems to me that the prosecuter in this case is taking quite a liberty in speaking on behalf of "Society".

More importantly, let's hope the youth of our country can be more like Bridger. What an example, after all he's been through, to recognize a stupid mistake for what it was and harbor no ill-will. May he be blessed in his recovery efforts. A positive attitude will go far in helping him accomplish his goals. God Bless!

Restitution | 2:49 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Miller was supposed to sell his home to help with the medical bills. Last night the news story indicated the money from the sale of his home has already been spent, and none of it has gone to Bridger's medical bills or his family. Is this correct?

There are other ways! | 3:25 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Jail is not the end all...the med bills still need to be paid..let the perpetrator work and give all the help he can...at least he has a conscience..sometimes the exposure to what is jail doesn't do any good as the recievidism speaks volumns. as stated before we can take a better look at the health system, along with the legal system. what is impressive is the desperate, anger control of the true christians involved here..don't know if i am capable ..plain and simple...but that's still apart of the hostile savage in me!

Skippy | 6:04 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Accidents to happen. It seems that Hunter's family has taken the high road. It seems like Miller has also taken the high road. I went to high school with Miller (Timpview class of '81). He is a good guy.

Jake | 7:31 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Bombs don't kill people, people kill people. The bomb is not responsible and, by the comments, Miller wasn't responsible either. It was an accident.

Nobody would be in jail if we viewed all crimes this way. Fact is Miller is responsible and Prison is appropriate. And to those who say they've done dumb things too... if you set off pipe bombs with children around, then shame on you. If you are talking about some other dumb act, it is not the same.

Poor Judicial System | 10:00 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

This case is just another example of how poorly run our judicial system has become but it will never change and continue to get worse since it's designed as a self perpetuating system, and no one is aware of the problems really until they've had to deal with it themselves and then the system strips them of their right to vote(probably something most of you didn't know) eliminating the primary venue in which they could pursue change and fix the systems huge problems. Mr. Miller should not be spending anytime in jail and with the exception of violent offenders no one should be it is a HUGE WASTE of tax payer dollars. Every criminal should be fined for their crime along with a stayed jail sentence that would only have to be served in the event they failed to make their restitution payments. Although I know this wouldn't be a fix all to the many problems the system has it would take a big leap in the direction of putting the burden of the crimes back on the offenders and away from the tax payers!

Shev: Re Restitution | 10:58 a.m. Dec. 4, 2008

No, that is not quite the correct story. Craig instructed his lawyer to give Mindy a certain amount of money immediately upon the sale of the house, and the rest went into a trust in his lawyer's name (at the request of her lawyers). Craig has at no time had access to any of the money from the sale of the house. If there's not as much money as was originally hoped, it's due to lawyers fees.

Craig's homewoner's insurance is also supposed to be giving them a fairly substantial amount of money as well (that might not have reached them yet; you know how these insurance things go).

There is still a restitution date coming up in the future that will determine the exact amount Craig will be required to pay.

Any statements saying that Craig does not care about Bridger can be chalked up to an understandably stressed-out mother.

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7 photos

Keith Johnson, Deseret News

Craig Miller points to his family while his attorney Mark Ethington stands next to him as Miller addresses Judge Fred Howard during Miller's sentencing Tuesday in Utah's 4th District Court in Provo.

Gallery (7 photos)