WURTLAND, Ky. — Accused murderer Beryl W. Smith has pleaded not guilty to killing former Chimacum resident Chadd E. Miller in this Ohio River town Aug. 7.
But now, Smith, 33, will undergo a mental evaluation at the request of his lawyer.
The evaluation was ordered Dec. 9 by Greenup County Circuit Judge Robert Conley, the county’s deputy clerk, Melinda Lawson, said Monday.
Smith’s lawyer, Tracy Frye, did not return calls for comment.
Smith pleaded not guilty Oct. 14 to shooting Miller, 27, with a 9 mm handgun at about 3:15 a.m. Aug. 7 after allegedly breaking into the home of Amber Nolan, 27, Smith’s ex-girlfriend.
At the time, Miller was in bed with Nolan, who was not injured.
Shortly after the shooting, Smith, of nearby Raceland, was apprehended without incident while standing in the street outside Nolan’s house.
A grand jury later indicted Smith for first-degree murder, a death-penalty offense in Kentucky.
The panel also charged him with wanton endangerment for allegedly firing the handgun in Nolan’s direction and with first-degree burglary for allegedly breaking into Nolan’s house.
A trial date has not been set in the case, Lawson said.
Miller, a 2000 graduate of Chimacum High School, met Nolan on the social networking site MySpace earlier this year, Green up County Deputy Sheriff David Bocook said in an earlier interview.
After “a couple of months,” Miller traveled by Greyhound bus to Wurtland to live with Nolan, arriving July 27.
He died 11 days later.
Smith had told Nolan he would kill Miller, but Smith never threatened the former Chimacum resident to his face and the two never spoke, Bocook said.
Smith and Nolan have a child, while Miller has a son who was 9 when his father was killed.
A neighbor of Nolan’s told the Peninsula Daily News in an earlier interview that Nolan has two children.
________
Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladaily news.com.
