A YOUNG man convicted of murder after he strangled his girlfriend to death while in a drug-induced psychosis will call fresh evidence when he takes an appeal against his conviction to the state's highest court next year.
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Jordan Brodie Miller, 23, was last year found guilty of murdering Emerald Wardle, his 18-year-old girlfriend at Metford after a jury found the psychosis he was suffering was caused solely by using LSD and cannabis.
He was later jailed for a maximum of 20 years, with a non-parole period of 13 years and is currently eligible for parole in 2033.
But Miller's lawyers quickly lodged a notice of intention to appeal the conviction and sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Last week, the appeal was mentioned in the CCA for the first time and lawyers for Miller said they would be calling fresh evidence from psychiatrist Dr Olav Nielssen, who was the defence expert at trial, as well as Miller's current treating psychiatrist in a bid to overturn the conviction.
The prosecution say they are briefing their own psychiatric expert to respond and the full-day hearing in April next year could hear from as many as four medical experts on the subject of the cause of Miller's psychosis.
As the Newcastle Herald reported last year, there was no history of domestic violence between the couple and Miller - a university student working part-time - had no criminal record.
Instead, he was in a psychotic state and had lost touch with reality causing him to believe Ms Wardle - the woman he was in a loving relationship with - was a "demon" who was "sucking the life out of him."
There was no dispute during the trial that it was Miller who had killed Ms Wardle.
He confessed; first to police and then during his first appearance in court, repeatedly saying: "I am a murderer."
And the medical experts called to give evidence agreed he was in a psychotic state at the time of the killing.
The crucial issue for the jury to determine was what caused him to be in that psychotic state and made him believe he had no choice but to kill the young woman he loved.
Miller had pleaded not guilty to murder and raised a defence of mental health impairment, his defence claiming he was suffering from a first episode of psychosis in the form of an underlying chronic schizophrenia.
The prosecution, led by Crown prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, said the psychosis Miller was suffering at the time of the killing was caused "solely" by using LSD and cannabis.
Mr Carr pointed to the reports of Professor David Greenberg who opined Miller's psychotic episode was "temporary", related to his use of drugs and it was too early to definitively diagnose him with schizophrenia.
And after deliberating for about 12 hours the jury rejected the evidence of Dr Nielssen and agreed with the prosecution, finding Miller guilty of murder.
He will now attempt to have that conviction overturned or his sentence reduced.
