PHOENIX (AP) – A man charged with sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing two young women while they were riding bicycles near a canal system in Phoenix in the early 1990s plans to take a defense against madness at his upcoming trial erect. A lawyer for Bryan Patrick Miller said in court files last week that he believes his client is psychologically incapable of supporting his defense and is requesting a postponement of his September 21 trial. Prosecutor Vince Imbordino said defense attorneys failed to provide Miller’s basis for requesting a mental assessment and instead filed papers on the matter with the court, where they will remain under lock and key. “This defendant has been in custody for six years. He has been seen by several defense experts who have never addressed the possibility of insanity, ”the prosecutor wrote. “This is just another in a long line of delaying tactics.” RJ Parker, one of Miller’s attorneys, declined to comment on the offer for a defense against insanity. Authorities said DNA evidence linked Miller to the deaths of 22-year-old Angela Brosso in November 1992 and 17-year-old Melanie Bernas in September 1993 at the time, saying he was cycling on bike paths in the area hazards. Miller has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and attempted sexual assault. The public prosecutor’s office calls for the death penalty. Brosso and Bernas disappeared north of Phoenix near the Arizona Canal. Brosso was found naked and beheaded in a field near a cycle path that borders the canal. Ten months later, Berna’s body was discovered swimming in the canal. Authorities said semen evidence gathered after both crimes showed the attacks were linked to the same suspect. The murders faded from public attention after police failed to link the DNA profile collected from the crime scenes to a specific suspect. According to court records, the Phoenix Police Cold Case unit was re-engaged in the cases in 2011. In 2014, a genealogist who uses ancestral databases for her research gained access to the DNA collected during the research and finally came up with the surname Miller. Bryan Miller was on the police investigation list in the case, according to court records. Authorities said Miller was charged but eventually acquitted when he stabbed a woman in Everett, Washington, to death in 2002 after saying the woman tried to rob him. In the Washington State case, he did not have to submit a DNA sample as he was acquitted. He later moved back to Arizona.
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