The Utah Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Eric Millerberg for causing the death of his family’s 16-year-old baby sitter by injecting the teen with a lethal mix of methamphetamine and heroin, then dumping her body after she died.
In a 3-0 ruling issued Friday, the court rejected an argument that the North Ogden man’s trial attorney was ineffective for not properly supporting a motion for a change of venue from Weber County to Summit or Salt Lake counties.
The motion centered on coverage of the case in the Standard-Examiner in Weber County, and said 56 articles had been written about baby sitter Alexis “Lexi” Rasmussen and at least 34 mentioned Millerberg — who had a criminal history and tattoos covering much of his hands, arms and head.
The motion was denied and after a three-day trial in Ogden’s 2nd District Court, Millerberg was found guilty in February 2014 of child-abuse homicide, obstructing justice, desecrating a human body and having unlawful sexual activity with Rasmussen. He was sentenced to serve up to life in prison for his crimes.
The appeal contended that the extensive pretrial publicity affected Millerberg’s right to an impartial jury and that his trial attorney also had failed to sufficiently address the media coverage when questioning potential jurors.
But the Court of Appeals said its decision rested on whether Millerberg, now 42, was ultimately tried by a fair and impartial jury — and that he was.
“Millerberg has presented no evidence, or argument, that any one of the jurors was actually biased against him,” the ruling says.
Even jurors who had some exposure to the media coverage indicated during the selection process that they could be impartial, the appeals court says, and trial counsel actively participated in questioning them.
The appeals court also rejected an argument that the defense attorney was ineffective for allegedly failing to present evidence from Millerberg’s computer that he was online while his wife, Dea Millerberg, committed the crime. Computer logs were obtained but were “not exculpatory or even relevant,” according to the ruling.
(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Dea Millerberg glances back at her family, as she is escorted out of Second District Court in Ogden, after Judge W. Brent West sentenced her to five years in prison in 2014.
Dea Millerberg, who was a prosecution witness, testified that she picked up Rasmussen on Sept. 10, 2011, to baby-sit the couple’s kids, but instead she got high with the teen and her husband.
Eric Millerberg injected Rasmussen three times during the night, including once in her neck, according to Dea Millerberg. She said the three also attempted to have sex together, but they were too high.
After the teen died, Dea Millerberg said, she and her husband left her body in a remote part of Morgan County near the Taggart exit of Interstate 84.
Rasmussen was missing for 38 days before Eric Millerberg’s friend, Eric “Peanut” Smith, helped lead police to the girl’s badly decomposed body. Smith testified that he helped Eric Millerberg move the body on Sept. 12, 2011, a day after the Millerbergs dumped it.
Dea Millerberg, now 44, was sentenced in August 2014 to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty a few months earlier to third-degree felony counts of obtaining a prescription illegally, obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a human body.
Charges were never filed against Smith, who made a deal with police in exchange for leading them to the girl’s body.