Posted on 01/21/2011 14:55

By MICHAEL BUCK

The widow of slain Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Joshua Miller spoke out Wednesday against a plea deal offered to the woman who bought the gun that killed her husband.

Angela Miller said she disagrees with the decision to negotiate a plea and would prefer that Emily Joy Gross be taken to trial.

"This is a personal choice to represent my husband, the values he had and the values he upheld," Angela Miller said in a written statement provided after a telephone interview.

Federal authorities said Gross bought the handgun her boyfriend, Daniel Autenrieth, of Palmer Township, used June 7, 2009, to kill Joshua Miller and wound Trooper Robert Lombardo in a Monroe County shootout.

Gross is accused of lying on a firearms purchase application and aiding Autenrieth, who was barred by a Northampton County Court order from having a gun.

Gross is scheduled to plead guilty Feb. 2 in federal court to lying on the application.

The plea agreement has enraged state and national police associations. The National Troopers Coalition last week penned a letter urging U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Philadelphia-based U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger to reconsider their position on the case.

The letter said the coalition is "appalled" at "the unacceptable and unconscionable manner in which a plea bargain is being offered."

"We rely on our advocates to pursue to the farthest degree, the full volley of criminal charges against those who commit heinous crimes, especially when it involves one of our own," the letter says.

Last week's letter comes on the heels of one written in December by the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association to Holder and Memeger. That letter also condemned the plea agreement.

Angela Miller said repeatedly that she does not have anything negative to say about the U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case. She said twice this month she has met with members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"I fully understand the position of both offices and thank the agents wholeheartedly for all of their hard work on this case and all the officials for taking the time to explain their position," Angela Miller said.

Patricia Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, declined to comment.

Federal authorities accused Gross in November 2009 of lying about her address when she bought a Taurus 9 mm gun in May 2009 at Cabela's, an outdoors store near Hamburg, Pa.

Gross said she was living at Autenrieth's home at 24 Olde Penn Drive in Palmer Township when she was actually living at a home in Westfield, N.J., according to court records. Gross left the gun and ammunition at Autenrieth's home, records say.

Nine days after the gun was purchased, it was used by Autenrieth to kill Miller and wound Lombardo following a multicounty chase that started when Autenrieth kidnapped his 9-year-old son from his estranged wife's Nazareth home.

The chase ended in a point-blank gun battle on Route 611 in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County. Autenrieth was killed in the exchange and the boy was rescued.