Inset: Anna Millette (WXIX/YouTube). Background: Police in Miami Township, Ohio, were called to a home where Millette ran her mother over in a garage (Miami Township police).
A 24-year-old woman from Ohio is set to serve nearly two decades in prison after she killed her mother by hitting her with a car and pinning her against the garage wall.
Anna Millette received a 21-year prison sentence on Tuesday for the death of 64-year-old Joyce Millette, as reported by local ABC affiliate WCPO. Anna had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault, originally facing a charge of murder.
The father of the defendant, Richard Millette, appealed to the judge for leniency, highlighting Joyce Millette’s efforts to help her daughter before her death.
“For nearly ten years, Joyce devoted herself to seeking mental health care for Anna, who had been battling a serious mental illness,” he was quoted as saying. “Despite her relentless dedication, Joyce encountered significant challenges: Limited access to necessary care, slow systemic responses, and inconsistent services that never provided the continuous support Anna needed. These failures greatly contributed to the tragedy that took Joyce’s life.”
“Joyce’s passing wasn’t an act of hostility,” Richard Millette stated. “It stemmed from a sudden and severe psychotic episode where Anna lost her grip on reality.”
Anna Millette apologized, saying her mother’s death “was the worst thing to ever happen to me and I cry daily.”
“At the time of the events, I was suicidal and in psychosis, this was a horrible accident,” she reportedly told the judge. “My mom did not deserve that and I’d do anything to get her back.”
But prosecutors noted she voluntarily stopped taking her prescribed medication and was on probation at the time for running over her ex-boyfriend. The judge agreed, saying Millette knew the repercussions of not taking her meds.
“She was aware of what could happen,” the judge reportedly said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, police in Miami Township, a suburb of Cincinnati, responded on June 15, 2024, to a home on Deerhaven Court for a domestic disturbance between a mother and daughter. When cops arrived, they saw Joyce Millette pinned up against the wall of a garage by a car. The car, its horn blaring, had been driven forcefully into the wall, which was partially broken down.
Two officers found Anna Millette in the driver’s seat. They tried to remove her from the car so they could get to the victim. The officers noticed she was preparing to flee, body camera footage showed.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” the officers said as they pulled at the door and busted out the window. “Get out of the car!”
Anna Millette slammed the car into reverse, knocking over one of the officers. She sped out of the driveway and into the street before taking off, tires screeching, cops say. Police chased her and she eventually crashed on I-275 near Loveland. Officers took her into custody by tasing her, cops said. First responders transported her to the hospital, while Joyce Millette was also rushed to the hospital, where doctors later pronounced her dead.
The officers in the garage suffered minor injuries.
It wasn’t the first time she was accused of hitting someone with a vehicle.
Miami Township officers responded to a home on Deerhaven Court on May 28, 2022, after a man was struck by a car. When cops arrived, they found a 19-year-old bleeding profusely from his head, a criminal complaint said. He alleged Anna Millette had hit him with her car “on purpose” because he broke up with her.
A witness told cops that the man was walking in a yard when Millete reportedly drove by him. She allegedly turned the car around and then “accelerated at a high rate of speed driving into the yard” where the man was standing and hit him, the complaint said. She then drove to a nearby home and walked inside while yelling at the man, cops said.
Officers tried to get Millette to come out, but she refused, so they had to obtain a warrant to go into the home and arrest her. Prosecutors charged her with two counts of felonious assault, aggravated vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident, records show. She pleaded guilty to felonious assault in January 2023 and was sentenced to jail.
