MI- Woman jailed for false rape report

9-17-2009 Michigan:

ESCANABA - A Gladstone woman who said she was brutally sexually assaulted last year was sentenced Tuesday to four months in Delta County Jail on two counts of attempted filing of a false report of a felony.

Amanda Chatterton Miller, 27, claimed she was sexually assaulted by a stranger on Feb. 27, 2008, in Brampton Township. She told police in the hospital emergency room she was kidnapped, beaten and raped, and also a victim of sodomy.

Following an intensive two-day hunt for the suspect, Miller confessed to police she had lied about being assaulted by a man who never existed. She told police she and her husband, Gilbert Tryan, made up the story so he wouldn't get in trouble.

During her sentencing in Delta County Circuit Court Tuesday, Miller declined to make a statement. Her attorney, Russ Hall, did speak on her behalf.

"This is a situation where basically a person has been battered during most of her married life," Hall said. "Her first reaction was to make a false statement to protect her husband. She doesn't have a criminal record."

Circuit Court Judge Stephen Davis told Miller, "You have gone from being a victim of domestic violence to being a perpetrator of public crime." Davis said her false police report resulted in an investigation of smoke.

In addition to the four months in jail, Davis ordered Miller to 18 months probation on each of the two counts of attempted filing of a false police report, to be served concurrently. She was also ordered to pay restitution to be determined, $526 in fines and costs, and attorney fees to be determined.

During Miller's plea hearing in July, she agreed to make a sworn truthful statement so authorities could do a follow-up investigation, which may include additional arrests. In exchange for the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed to dismiss four counts against the defendant.

Troopers arrested Miller on March 31 after waiting on DNA evidence for more than a year. She was originally charged with four counts of filing false police reports for criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, and attempted sodomy. ..Source.. by Jenny Lancour