Man Gets Stayed Prison Sentence After Biting, Strangling Girlfriend

On Nov. 7, 44-year-old Johnny Lee Miller, of Golden Valley, was found guilty on a third-degree domestic assault charge and handed a stayed three-year prison sentence for the beating of his girlfriend, in addition to time in a Hennepin County workhouse and probation.

If Miller fulfills the conditions of his sentence, which include remaining employed, law-abiding and alcohol and drug-free, he will not see a day in prison. Beginning Dec. 3, Miller will spend 180 days in a Hennepin County workhouse, though he'll get credit for the 38 days he's already spent in jail.

According to a criminal complaint signed by Golden Valley Police Detective Mario Hernandez, police were called to an apartment in the 1400 block of Douglas Drive just after 9:30 p.m. Aug. 15 on a domestic assault report.

Miller, who met police at the door, had blood on his face, according to the complaint. Officers asked him what happened, and he said he was injured when his girlfriend threw a picture frame at him.

The victim appeared to have suffered significant injuries, including “obvious head trauma,” the complaint says. Police noted that she had blood running down her face from a wound above her left eye, and a “significant” bite mark on her left breast. The victim identified Miller as her assailant.

Both Miller and the victim were taken to a hospital.

Police noted blood spatters all over the apartment walls and blinds and in the dining room and bathroom. Some of the blood spatters were 5 to 6 feet off the ground, police said.

When police visited the victim on Aug. 17, her eye was swollen shut and oozing pus, and she was unable to see out of it, according to the complaint. She had “significant” bruising on her trachea and her voice was raspy; doctors used seven stitches to repair the cut to her head.

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