Nevada man charged with hate crime admits in police interview that he mentioned ‘hanging tree’

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada man charged with a hate crime admitted he mentioned a “hanging tree” during a verbal argument with a Black man collecting signatures for a proposed recall measure southeast of Reno, in keeping with an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Gary Miller, 74, his wife and their adult daughter were arrested Wednesday on misdemeanor charges. They posted bail hours later and were released from the Storey County Jail, court documents show.

The encounter, which the black man, Ricky Johnson, began recording after making a comment a few “hanging tree,” turned heated, with either side shouting obscenities at a classic automobile show in Virginia City, a Wild West tourist spot. Early in the video, Johnson demands that Miller repeat what he said off camera.

Miller didn’t say this, but later told a sheriff’s investigator that he had told Miller earlier that “there’s a hanging tree at the end of the road that you can hang yourself from,” in keeping with an affidavit included with the criminal grievance. At one point in the recording, Johnson asks Miller where the tree is positioned, and Miller replies, “in your backyard.”

The Aug. 2 comments were met with immediate criticism from local and state officials.

The arrests of Miller, his wife and daughter on Wednesday were met with swift praise from Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who’s black.

“The public outcry was heard loud and clear, and steps were taken to hold these individuals accountable for their racist and unlawful actions,” Ford said.

Miller faces charges of disturbing the peace and noise violations, the latter of which incorporates a sentencing enhancement because authorities say Miller’s actions were motivated by race, in keeping with a grievance filed by Storey County District Attorney Anne M. Langer.

Miller’s wife, Janis Miller, who’s seen in the video leading Johnson out onto the road, is charged with one count of battery. Miller’s adult daughter, Tiffany Miller, is charged with obstructing or delaying a police officer.

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It is unclear whether any of the Millers have a lawyer who could speak on their behalf. Each declined a public defender’s request Wednesday. Neither Langer’s office nor the sheriff’s office knew if the Millers had legal representation.

Most of the fees against them carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison if convicted. Messages to a phone number and email address listed in public records for Gary Miller weren’t immediately returned Thursday.

Johnson, who lives outside Houston, was hired by a Texas-based company to collect signatures. He told The Associated Press earlier this week that an Aug. 2 meeting with Gary Miller turned heated when Miller called him a racial slur shortly before the taping began.

Johnson didn’t reply to multiple requests for extra comment from the AP via email, text message and voicemail.

Miller told the investigating deputy that Johnson began yelling at him and “going crazy” when he told him he was going to vote for Trump, in keeping with the documents. Miller said he then told Johnson “there was a hanging tree at the end of the road and to go there.”

Deputy Jacob Smiley asked Miller to make clear his words, and Miller said he “grew up in a different time,” the documents say.

Miller didn’t address the racial slur in the police interview or say so in the video.

In a handwritten statement to the sheriff’s office, Miller accused Johnson of attempting to “draw a crowd and escalate the situation” and later threatening him and his wife with phone calls “at all hours of the night.”

Undersheriff Eric Kern said the sheriff’s office is investigating a minimum of one act of vandalism at a neighborhood business and several other threats against businesses and business owners in the community consequently of the video. The office didn’t immediately reply to a request late Thursday evening asking whether any of those threats were directed on the Millers.