Vern Miller
Vern Miller | |
---|---|
Attorney General of Kansas | |
In office January 11, 1971 – January 13, 1975 | |
Governor | Robert Docking |
Preceded by | Kent Frizzell |
Succeeded by | Curt T. Schneider |
Personal details | |
Born | Wichita, Kansas, U.S. | December 22, 1928
Died | June 11, 2021 Mesa, Arizona, U.S. | (aged 92)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Paula |
Children | 4 |
Education | Oklahoma City University (LLB) 1966 |
Vern Miller (December 22, 1928 – June 11, 2021) was an American attorney, politician, and law enforcement officer who served as the Kansas attorney general from 1971 to 1975.
Early life and education[]
Miller was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1928. At three years old, his family moved to a 10-acre farm in the city, raising cows and selling milk.[1] He attended primary schools there, and attended Wichita North High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17, turning 18 while he was posted to post-WWII U.S. occupation zone in Korea. After his service he attended Friends University.[1][2] He later graduated from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1966, driving 310 miles round trip to attend night school.[1]
Career[]
He served as deputy sheriff of Sedgwick County, Kansas from 1949 to 1954, and in 1958 was elected as Sedgwick County marshal.[3] After two terms as marshal, Miller served two terms as sheriff of Sedgwick County. As a Wichita, Kansas police laboratory investigator, he was called out to the crime scene of the Earl and Ruth Bowlin murders in Sedgwick County on April 13, 1963.[4] He was elected Sedgwick County sheriff in 1964 and re-elected twice.[5]
Kansas attorney general[]
Though he had never previously tried a case,[1] he was first elected as Attorney General of Kansas in 1970 under a platform of "aggressive and visible enforcement of the state's drug and liquor laws".[6] As attorney general, Miller participated in arrests and drug raids himself; a 1971 article detailed a Wichita drug raid in which Miller hid in the trunk of a car of an undercover agent in order to make arrests.[7][8][9] When he was re-elected in 1972, he had gained widespread popularity across the state, winning in all of the counties.[10] He served as attorney general until 1975.
1974 Kansas gubernatorial election[]
In 1974, he was the Democratic nominee for governor of Kansas, losing by 0.49% to Republican Robert Frederick Bennett. Miller then served as Sedgwick County Prosecuting Attorney from 1976 to 1980 and opened up a law practice in his hometown of Wichita.[11]
Personal life[]
In 2009, the book Vern Miller: Legendary Kansas Lawman by Mike Danford, detailing Miller's life, was published.[12] He was married twice, and had three children and a stepchild.[1] One of his sons, Clifford Miller, was a police sergeant in Sedgwick County.[13] Miller was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Kansas Bar Association, American Judicature Society and Wichita Bar Association. He was a former president of the Kansas Peace Officers Association.[14]
Miller died on June 11, 2021, at his home in Mesa, Arizona at the age of 92.[15]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Kansas lawman Vern Miller dies at 92, Wichita Eagle, Amy Renee Leiker, June 12, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ "Kansas Directory". google.ca. 1973. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Facet – Kansas Memory – Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
- ^ Group, Genealogy Trails History. "Sedgwick County, KS". genealogytrails.com. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
- ^ "Vern Miller – Kansas Memory – Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
- ^ Dean, Virgil W. (2006). John Brown to Bob Dole. google.ca. ISBN 9780700614295. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "40 years ago: AG Vern Miller hides in car trunk, tackles suspect in course of drug raid". LJWorld.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "The Stuff of Legends: Vern Miller returns to Great Bend". gbtribune.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Miller returns to scene of the crime". gbtribune.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Richard Shank (May 9, 2013). "A reunion with Vern Miller". The Hutchinson News. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Vern Miller – Kansas Memory". kansasmemory.org. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Joplin Independent: Friend pays homage to Vern Miller, Kansas lawman". joplinindependent.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Sheriff's sergeant, son of Vern Miller, saw it all in 36 years with Sedgwick County". kansas. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Kansas Voter's Guide". google.ca. 1972. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Former Kansas attorney general Vern Miller has died at 92". Kake.com. June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
- 1928 births
- 2021 deaths
- Politicians from Wichita, Kansas
- Friends University alumni
- Oklahoma City University School of Law alumni
- Kansas Democrats
- Kansas Attorneys General
- District attorneys in Kansas
- Kansas sheriffs
- Arizona Democrats