By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
SMYRNA - The state attorney general's office announced Monday that a correctional officer was justified in shooting to death an inmate who abducted and raped a female counselor July 12 at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
"Based on our investigation of the events of July 12, the office of the attorney general concludes that the use of deadly force by the officer was justified to protect a third party and not subject to criminal prosecution under Delaware law,'' said Deputy Attorney General Eugene Hall.
Mr. Hall is director of the attorney general's Fraud and Consumer Protection Division.
"The attorney general's investigation of law enforcement shootings serves a special, but limited, purpose,'' he said. "The attorney general's office determines whether the officer's use of deadly force constitutes a criminal act.
"Delaware law defines the use of deadly force as justifiable if the individual using such force believes that it is necessary to protect a third person or persons from threat of death or serious physical injury.''
Mr. Hall, in a report dated Monday to Attorney General M. Jane Brady, identified the officer as Lt. Keith Hoffer, a 25-year DOC veteran who was designated team leader of the DOC Emergency Response Team that was activated after inmate Scott A. Miller took the 27-year-old woman hostage.
Mr. Hall said his investigation revealed that Miller, 45, serving a 694-year prison sentence, produced an 8-inch homemade "shank,'' or knife, and placed it against the counselor's neck.
He said Miller forced her into a bathroom. He said a male counselor attempted to intercede by grabbing Miller's arm but was forced back when Miller tried to stab him.
Then, with a choke hold around her neck and the knife against her throat, Miller moved the woman into a nearby office, barricaded the door with furniture and tried to cover the windows.
"The entire prison was locked down and all inmates secured,'' Mr. Hall's report said. "Correctional officers set up a perimeter around the office and began negotiations with Miller by talking through the closed and barricaded door.''
As leader of the response team, Mr. Hall said Lt. Hoffer was "authorized to arm himself with a .40-caliber sidearm.
"He was ordered to assess the barricaded situation, be available for any contingency and take whatever action was necessary to protect the hostage (and others) from death or serious injury,'' the report said.
At approximately 4 p.m., almost six hours after the hostage-taking incident began, Lt. Hoffer and his team discovered they could access the room Miller and the victim were in from the ceiling of an adjacent room, the report said.
The report said Lt. Hoffer climbed onto filing cabinets in the adjoining room and observed Miller pacing with knife in hand, but that he could not see the hostage. Miller had turned the lights off but there was "sufficient ambient light coming in from the partially covered windows,'' the report said.
"Shortly after 4:30 p.m., Miller became unusually quiet and was not responding to the negotiating team,'' the report said.
"Hoffer again was boosted up so as to be able to look over the wall and observed Miller in a position that indicated that he had just raped the counselor.''
As Lt. Hoffer was looking down into the room, Miller apparently heard a sound.
"While shouting, (Miller) climbed up on boxes and cabinets alongside the common wall and lunged at Hoffer with the shank numerous times while telling him he would kill him,'' the report said.
"As Miller would stab, Hoffer would pull back. Hoffer and his teammates could hear the sound of the shank striking the wall as Miller was thrusting it at Hoffer.
"At this time, Hoffer could now see that the hostage had gotten across the room and was down on the floor between a desk and the wall farthest from Miller and Hoffer.''
Mr. Hall said Miller then turned his attention to his victim in the darkened room.
"Unable to stab Hoffer, Miller turned the shank in his hand to an overhead stabbing position and in a profane manner stated he was going to kill the hostage,'' the report said.
"The victim began to scream as Miller turned and jumped from the cabinets and started quickly across the room toward the hostage with the shank raised over his head in a stabbing position.''
At that point, Mr. Hall said, Lt. Hoffer fired two rounds from his handgun. One of the bullets struck Miller in the back below his shoulder, the other in the left buttocks.
The hostage was rescued. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene.
"Lt. Hoffer knew Miller was a convicted, violent, sexual predator (who had) kidnapped the counselor at knifepoint, held her hostage, threatened to kill her, terrorized her for several hours and finally raped her,'' Mr. Hall's report concluded.
"At the time Lt. Hoffer fired his weapon, he believed that inmate Miller was going to kill the hostage and that the use of deadly force was immediately necessary to prevent serious injury or death to the hostage-counselor.''
DOC issued a press release in response to Mr. Hall's report and said its own investigation into the incident is ongoing.
"The attorney general's ruling confirms the sentiments of the Department of Correction that the DOC officer acted justly in firing his weapon at an inmate holding an employee hostage,'' the statement said.
"The attorney general's decision vindicates the officer and is reassuring to the dedicated officers of the Department of Correction who put their lives on the line daily in the name of public safety.
"The Department of Correction commends the officer for his actions on July 12 and has restored the officer to full duty.''
Corrections Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor reported after the incident that Lt. Hoffer had been placed on "administrative assignment'' pending the conclusion of the attorney general's investigation.
Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or at teldred@newszap.com.
