Wednesday, February 02, 2000
Slaying victim had big plans for life
Judge gives killer 15 years to life
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
On the last day of his life, Brian Pilot was making plans.
He told his mother he wanted to start saving money for college so he could get a degree, maybe something in marine biology.
Soon, he told her, he would have his life in order.
“He never got the chance,” his mother, Susan Balzer, told a judge Tuesday. “Brian was a good and decent boy who loved life.”
Ms. Balzer spoke in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court moments before a judge sentenced her son's killer, William Miller, to 15 years to life in prison.
At the court hearing, Ms. Balzer told the judge her 19-year-old son from Cheviot was the kind of man who could forgive even the worst offenses.
But she said she could not be so generous toward the man who stabbed to death her first-born son. “When Brian's life ended, so did a big part of mine,” she said, sobbing.
Mr. Miller, 22, of Delhi Township, stood silently as Ms. Balzer and other family members spoke to the court. Throughout his trial, he denied any part in the April 12 slaying.
“I also am a victim here,” Mr. Miller told Judge John O'Connor on Tuesday. “I have been mistakenly convicted of this crime. I will pray that justice is done.”
He said he was not the man who plunged a steak knife into Mr. Pilot's heart while the victim stood in the kitchen of a Price Hill apartment.
Prosecutors say Mr. Miller stabbed Mr. Pilot and then began arguing with another man at the party.
During the argument, they say, someone grabbed the blood-covered knife, threw it outside and ran from the apartment.
Mr. Miller's lawyer, Perry Ancona, told jurors last month that some one else at the party committed the crime.
Mr. Pilot's father, Gary Pilot of Cheviot, told the judge that justice would be served only if Mr. Miller received a severe sentence.
He said his family, including Brian's four younger brothers, were devastated by his death. “I can stand up and tell you how good my son was,” Gary Pilot said. “He gave his heart and his love.”
Judge O'Connor assured the family he would impose the mandatory maximum sentence. Then he told Mr. Miller that, despite his denials, there is no doubt about his guilt.
“I'm in complete accord with the jury's findings,” the judge said. “They recognized your accountability for your actions, something I think you failed to do.”
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Slaying victim had big plans for life
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