Living Man Declared Legally Dead by Court

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

In 1994, an Ohio court declared Donald E. Miller Jr. dead. He had been missing for several years and his wife needed to formalize his death to qualify her daughters for social security benefits. On Monday, Donald E. Miller appeared in court to testify on behalf of his own existence. He lost.

Almost twenty years after he was declared legally dead, Miller reappeared on the front lawn of his former wife's home, having fled from Ohio in 1986 while dealing with alcoholism and unemployment.

"My paycheck was being taken away from me and I had nothing left," Miller told the court. "It kind of went further than I ever expected it to. I just kind of took off, ended up in different places."

Miller, now 61, wants his social security number reactivated and would like to apply for a driver's license. Unfortunately, Ohio state law does not allow for a declaration of death to be reversed after three years have passed since the declaration. On Monday, Judge Allan H. Davis of Hancock County Probate Court, who had declared Miller dead in 1994, declared him legally dead again with Miller in attendance.

“I don’t know where that leaves you, but you’re still deceased as far as the law is concerned,” Judge Davis told Miller on Monday.

The former Ms. Miller (who, coincidentally, remarried a man also with the surname Miller, so I guess the once-and-always Ms. Miller is more accurate), is also fighting against her former husband's resurrection. If he comes back to life, Ms. Miller would have to pay back years of benefit payments for her daughters.

Stranger still, it seems like the reconciliation between Ms. Miller and her former (legally dead) husband was pretty amiable.

The New York Times writes:

She first learned that Mr. Miller was alive when he showed up in front of her home more than a year ago, sitting at a picnic table with his girlfriend. “I said, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ ” recalled Ms. Miller, who has married again to a man whose surname is also Miller. “It was civil the whole time. We were both very nice.”
For now however, Donald E. Miller Jr. remains a very living dead man.

“Every time you think you’ve seen everything,” the judge said in court, “something like this

This is a shining example of the American court system

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Do you have a link to the rest of this article?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Do you have a link to the rest of this article?

Sure thing, here ya go

http://www.thecourier.com/Issues/20...13_story2.asp?d=100813_story2,2013,Oct,08&c=n

 

[Teelie]

This isn't so cut and dry simple but it is ridiculous he is still legally dead.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ya it's a pretty crazy case, I've never heard of anything like this before.

 

[Nathan]

So if you would hypothetically shoot him in the face right now, would you only be charged for defiling a corpse? Legally, he is already dead after all.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

So if you would hypothetically shoot him in the face right now, would you only be charged for defiling a corpse? Legally, he is already dead after all.

I wonder if you could be charged with murder since he is legally dead. How could they charge you for killing somebody who is legally dead. It would be an interesting trial and defense

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Does that make his current girlfriend/wife a necrophiliac? :-P

 

[Teelie]

I wonder if he could even be tried for murder, being dead legally speaking. What about taxes? He's dead so does he have to pay taxes? Or do taxes persist even in death?

 

[Ms. Marvel]

So if you would hypothetically shoot him in the face right now, would you only be charged for defiling a corpse? Legally, he is already dead after all.

Thanks for that.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

What that article doesn't much go into (I originally heard this story from a different article that focused on another aspect of the story) is that the whole thing was centered around him not paying child support to the mother for years. The mother / ex-girlfriend lost all contact with him, and apparently he fell off the face of the map, so she went to the court to have him declared legally dead, allowing his social security benefits to go to her to care for their child. Now 20 years later, he's back, and if he was declared alive, she'd have to pay back the social security benefits that went to her instead of him, and also, he is well past the statute of limitations on this one, which is why the judge didn't undeclare him dead.

It is rather stupid, but there's a sense of twisted justice in all of it.

 

[Anubis]

Yeah, it kinda is a twisted justice to it all.

Guy ran out on his family, and now is a walking corpse for his trouble. Shouldn't even be able to get a job....I mean, he's dead.

 

[KevanG]

Damn zombies trying to steal our jobs and our women.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Brings new meaning to the term "deadbeat dad".

 

[Anubis]

Nice.

 

[Quasimod0]

Brings new meaning to the term "deadbeat dad".

Very nice. t:

 

[Spider-Fan83]

if he took out a life insurance policy, would it just pay out instantly?

 

[Morbius]

They GOTTA make a movie about this like Double Jeopardy

 

[AnneFan]

if he took out a life insurance policy, would it just pay out instantly?

Dead on time.

 

[Lily Adler]

They GOTTA make a movie about this like Double Jeopardy

So it can end up on Lifetime.

 

[Immortalfire]

He's a Nazgul, neither living or dead.

 

[Lily Adler]

So I guess we can say he is the Walking Dead.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

He's a Nazgul, neither living or dead.

No man can slay him.

But she was no man (who took the cast to court to have him legally declared dead)

 

[Immortalfire]

She had him dead to rights.

 

[Trainwreck2100]

that's one way to avoid paying back your student loans