Donte Miller’s Milwaukee homicide trial was put off on Aug. 18 after a prospective juror’s remark about his red jail jumpsuit prompted the defense to ask for a new jury pool. Judge Michelle A. Havas adjourned the case and set a new trial date for Oct. 26.
Miller, 31, was at the defense table in handcuffs and jail clothing when jury selection entered its second day. He is charged with second-degree reckless homicide, hit-and-run involving death and other counts tied to a Jan. 4, 2025 crash that killed Beverly Fair, 70.
The delay matters because jury selection had only just started the day before, and the remark came before testimony began. One prospective juror said she recognized from law enforcement experience that the red jumpsuit meant Miller was under some kind of restriction or discipline while in custody, a detail the defense said could spread through the panel before anyone heard the evidence.
Abigail Ruckdashel moved to dismiss the entire jury pool, calling it a last resort because the comment was so damaging. Grant Huebner objected, but Havas agreed that the safest course was to stop and start again with a new panel. The case had reached 36 potential jurors before the interruption.
That argument collided with a separate explanation from James Burnett, who said Miller was serving discipline time for disorderly behavior and making threats to staff in a general housing unit. Burnett said Miller is in administrative segregation because of those threats, had requested protective custody status and refused to wear street clothes even after they were offered. He also said the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has no specific policy on wrist-bound handcuffs in court, describing the practice as common but not written into the MCSO policy manual.
That left the court with a practical problem as much as a legal one: the visual cues that one side said reflected custody status were the same cues the other side said had already tainted the room. When the case returns on Oct. 26, the prosecution will have to rebuild the jury selection process with that moment in mind, and Miller will again face a panel that has not already heard a potentially prejudicial remark about the clothes on his back.
