Justin Miller sentenced for killing Mercedes Lain

PLYMOUTH, Ind. -- Just a little over six months have passed since Justin Miller was arrested in the disappearance of Mercedes Lain-- and today, after pleading guilty-- he will serve sixty-five years in prison. 

“He took away a precious soul from us," said Angie Owens, Lain's maternal grandmother. "It’s just painful.”

Miller filed a plea agreement with the Starke County Prosecutor's Office just before Christmas, and pleaded guilty to the murder of Mercedes Lain shortly before the new year. 

In the courtroom this morning, Prosecutor Tammy Napier and Defense Attorney Alexander Hoover both laid out the facts of the case to Judge Kim Hall before determining his sentencing. 

Hoover argued that Miller's cooperation with authorities in finding Lain's body should factor into a lighter sentence, per his plea agreement. 

"Without him deciding to aid the police investigation, we likely wouldn’t know where her body ever was in the first place," Hoover said. 

But Prosecutor Napier argued that there were aggravating factors that could not be ignored, such as the injuries that lead to Mercedes's death, which investigators called "excessive and insane," saying that she had been hit eight or nine times by Miller, who was trusted to take care of the nearly 11-month old. 

Owens read a letter to Miller, illustrating the pain she and her family have gone through since Mercedes's death, saying that Miller took everything from her, and everything her family had hoped to enjoy with her. 

“That was hard," Owens said outside the courthouse. "But it felt good to finally be able to say to him what I felt I needed to say to him.”

Miller made no statement in court. 

Judge Hall handed down the sentence around noon.

“What you did on this day when you killed this baby, was an act that is as bad as a human can commit," he said. "A human adult to take the life of a baby. That identifies you as the worst criminal there can be. The court imposes the maximum of sixty-five years with none suspended.”

Owens worried last month that Miller's sentence was going to be reduced because of the plea agreement.

“I felt good that he got the sixty-five, that he got the max," she said. "I’m very proud of Kim Hall for doing that.”

Despite getting the maximum sentence and justice for Mercedes, the family says its still difficult without her. 

“It’s going to be a long road ahead, but one day at a time," added Owens. 

By pleading guilty, Miller will not be able to appeal his sentence, meaning the thirty-seven year old will be one-hundred-and-two by the time he will see release.