A 24-year-old Ohio woman will spend approximately two decades in prison after killing her mother by hitting her with a car and pinning her against a garage wall.
Anna Millette was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Tuesday for the death of Joyce Millette, 64, according to WCPO, a local ABC affiliate. The younger Millette pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felony assault. She was originally charged with murder.
Richard Millette, the defendant’s father, pleaded with the judge for compassion, claiming Joyce Millette had attempted to help her daughter prior to the slaying.
“For nearly a decade, she fought tirelessly to secure mental health care for Anna, who had long struggled with a serious mental illness,” she reportedly told him. “Despite her unwavering dedication, Joyce faced insurmountable obstacles: limited access to care, systemic delays, and a patchwork of services that never provided the sustained assistance that Anna required. These failures played a significant role in the tragedy that claimed Joyce’s life.
“Joyce’s death was not motivated by malice,” Richard Millette stated. “It was the result of an acute and devastating psychotic episode in which Anna lost touch with 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 terrible accident,” she allegedly told the judge. “My mom did not deserve that and I’d do anything to get her back.”
However, prosecutors noted that 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 was aware of the consequences of not taking her medications.
“She was aware of what could happen,” the judge allegedly stated.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, police in Miami Township, a Cincinnati suburb, responded to a domestic disturbance between a mother and daughter on June 15, 2024, at a home on Deerhaven Court. When police arrived, they discovered Joyce Millette pinned against the wall of a garage by a car. The car, its horn blaring, had been driven violently into the partially collapsed wall.
Two officers discovered Anna Millette in the driver’s seat. They attempted to remove her from the car so they could reach the victim. The officers noticed she was about to flee, according to body camera footage.
“Stop! Stop!” Stop!” the officers yelled as they yanked on the door and smashed out the window. “Get out of the car!”
Anna Millette slammed her car into reverse, knocking over one of the officers. Police say she sped out of the driveway and into the street before fleeing, her tires screeching. Police pursued her, and she eventually crashed on I-275 near Loveland. Police said officers tased her before arresting her. First responders took her to the hospital, and Joyce Millette was also rushed there, where doctors pronounced her dead.
The officers in the garage sustained minor injuries.
It was not the first time she had been accused of hitting someone with a vehicle.
On May 28, 2022, Miami Township officers responded to a home on Deerhaven Court where a man had been hit by a car. When cops arrived, they discovered a 19-year-old bleeding profusely from the head, according to a criminal complaint. He claimed Anna Millette hit him with her car “on purpose” after he broke up with her.
A witness told cops that the man was walking in a yard when Millete allegedly drove past him. She allegedly turned the car around and “accelerated at a high rate of speed driving into the yard” where the man was standing, hitting him, according to the complaint. She then drove to a nearby home and walked inside, yelling at the man, according to police.
Officers attempted to persuade Millette to come out, but she refused, so they had to obtain a warrant to enter the home and arrest her. According to court records, prosecutors charged her with two counts of felonious assault, aggravated vehicular assault, and leaving the scene of an accident. In January 2023, she pleaded guilty to felonious assault and received a jail sentence.
