Austin Miller

A mother's wish was granted Friday when a judge rejected a plea deal brokered between prosecutors and a Center Township man accused of raping a 14- and 15-year-old in 2016.

“Nothing could prepare you for your 15-year-old daughter telling you she was raped by a grown man,” said the mother of one of the teenagers, who accused Austin Chalmers Miller, 24, of raping them in the home of one of the victims.

Miller was initially charged with 10 felonies — including multiple counts of rape — and eight misdemeanors related to the incident. Miller and his lawyer, Michael Zunder, were able to work out a plea deal with the district attorney's office and, on Feb. 26, Miller pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors. The statutory sexual assault charge carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years as well as a fine of up to $25,000 and corruption of minors is graded as a first-degree misdemeanor that is punishable by up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine, according to Pennsylvania law.

But that wasn't enough for the victim's mother.

“Please keep in mind the damage he's done,” the mother told Judge William Shaffer.

Miller, standing before the judge in a red button-down shirt, watched as Shaffer told the mother that the court is constrained by sentencing guidelines on the reduced charges and then added, “I'm not satisfied with this plea agreement. Let's take this to trial.”

With the rejection, Miller will now go through the legal process again, and all of his original charges are again active.

Miller's reactivated charges are four counts each of rape and statutory sexual assault and two counts of corruption of minors, all felonies. He also is charged with two misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors. Additionally, he is charged with two counts each of indecent assault, indecent exposure and furnishing alcohol to minors, all misdemeanors.

State police arrested Miller on Jan. 27, 2016.

Both victims told authorities that Miller, who they knew, came to the home of the younger girl on Dec. 15 with alcohol that they all drank, a trooper had recounted in a 2016 preliminary hearing.

The 14-year-old recounted that later while she and the older girl were in a bedroom sleeping on the same bed, the defendant entered the room and got into the bed.

She said she saw Miller got on top of the 15-year-old and then noticed the sheets “moving up and down,” DeLuca testified.

The younger girl alleged that the defendant later raped her.

Leading up to Shaffer's rejection of the plea deal, the mother recalled how her daughter changed after the alleged rape.

“For months, she was physically and mentally incapable of speaking,” the mother said. “You took away her sense of safety in her own home.”

She said that her daughter didn't sleep.

“She was full of anxiety, immobile,” she said. “My daughter was unraveling before my eyes.”

The girl's grades began to drop, the mother said, and “she was a shell of her former self.”

Miller will go through the motions of proceeding with his case. Given Shaffer's decision and statement, the case will be brought to trial. Miller continues to remain free on $150,000 bail.

In the meantime, the victims “will begin to recover,” the mother said.

“I can't take away my daughter's pain,” she said. “All I can do is be there for her and support her. She's a fighter. What she doesn't realize is how brave she truly is.”