Collin County jury deliberating case of former Plano stripper accused of trying

A Collin County jury is deliberating the fate of a former stripper from Plano accused of attempting to kill her fiance.

Vicky Renee Miller, 44, faces a charge of attempted murder. She pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she faces two to 20 years in prison.

Paul Key, 54, met Miller while she was a dancer at Lipstick Cabaret in Dallas, a topless club. The Dallas man proposed, and Miller accepted. During the three and half years they were dating, she kept putting off marriage. He finally broke up with her.

On Nov. 21, 2011, while Key was waiting in her Plano apartment, he was strangled with an extension cord, suffocated with a pillow and struck over the head with a sauce pan. After he escaped, Miller, her son, Francisco Hurtado, and his friend, Dunkan Boyce, concocted a story that Key attacked Miller. Boyce testified that Hurtado beat up his mother to make their story more convincing.

Key was initially arrested on an assault charge. That was later dropped.

Defense attorney Robbie McClung told jurors that the testimony during the trial was full of innuendos and misperceptions. McClung said the two teens instigated the attempt on Key's life and that Miller had nothing to do with it. McClung said Boyce told jurors that Miller was involved in the attack only because he's hoping for a deal when his case comes up.

“He's covering for himself,” McClung said. “He's the person who doesn't flinch when he's strangling the life out of someone.”

But Boyce testified that Miller was there, actively participating in the attack and the coverup.

The plot to kill Key was orchestrated, put in motion and directed by Miller, prosecutor Paul Anfosso said. “She wanted him dead,” he said.

Miller drove Key to her house that November night in 2011, she told him to sit on the couch and then she pushed Boyce to make the first move and wrap the extension cord around Key's neck, prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Lindsey Wynne said multiple witnesses corroborated Miller's intent. Miller talked often with the teens who hung out at her house about wanting to kill Key. She even asked several of them if they would help with the killing, Wynne said.

Miller made up a story that Key was molesting her younger son. Boyce testified that's why he got involved. Police later determined the claim was unfounded.

Key's statements about what happened have been consistent in the two years since the attack. He was financially ruined, he was injured, and he was falsely accused of two crimes, Wynne said. “All because of this woman,” Wynne said, referring to Miller.

“But he's happy to be alive,” she said.

Hurtado and Boyce told a friend later that night what really happened, and that friend and his mother went to police. Another friend also testified that Hurtado told him months later there was a plot to kill Key and they attempted to cover it up.

Hurtado and Boyce each face a charge of attempted murder. Trial dates have not been set for them.

Miller also faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child in a separate incident several years ago involving a 13-year-old boy she knew. That charge is not part of this week's trial.

Miller chose not to testify in this first phase of her trial. Defense attorneys called no other witnesses.

McClung told jurors they may not like Miller's job choice as a stripper, her getting into a relationship with Key or her taking his money.

“Making bad choices doesn't make you a killer,” McClung said, citing the lack of evidence. “Find her not guilty because the evidence says she's not guilty and justice demands it.”

But Wynne said the evidence is overwhelming of Miller's guilt. She told jurors: “Tell her we know what you did and we're going to find you guilty.”

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/…