Pair sentenced for May 2023 murder of Roger Driesel (2024)

GOODING — Athena Miller and Nicholas James will both spend at least 25 years in prison for the brutal murder of a Gooding man.

“I will always miss him,” Lorrie Schwarz, sister of murder victim Roger Driesel, said after Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

Shwarz wore a T-shirt that was designed for a fundraiser held shortly after his death and many of the 30 family members and friends attending the hearing wore T-shirts depicting collectible automobiles, in tribute to Driesel, who had a love for cars.

Driesel, 58, was described as very friendly and a loud talker. He owned a 1973 Ford Mustang.

“They took him away from us,” Schwarz said of Miller, who was said to be Driesel’s girlfriend, and James. “I know his life meant something to all the people who loved him and all the people he touched.”

Miller and James were charged in the May 2023 murder after Driesel’s bullet-ridden body was found hidden in a shop’s oil pit on their property.

Driesel was reported missing the week before, and the two initially told police that Driesel, 58, had mysteriously got into a silver SUV driven by an unknown person and left a residence, leaving behind personal belongings including his wallet and cell phone.

A search involving drones, a search dog and people on foot began soon afterward.

James eventually confessed to police, saying he shot Driesel seven times with a .22 rifle without killing him. He then asked to borrow Miller’s .380 pistol to deliver the fatal shot.

The motive, as outlined in police reports, was that Driesel had become verbally and physically abusive toward Miller and Miller asked James to kill him.

Miller, however, did not confess in court to asking that Driesel be killed. In the plea deal, she only admitted to allowing James have access to her pistol on the day of the crime.

“I did not want him killed,” she said in her statement Tuesday. “I did not ask for him to be killed.”

Defense attorney Phil Brown said Miller only wanted Driesel “away from her.”

Trevor Misseldine, talking to the Times-News after the hearing, said he did not buy Miller’s story, and pointed to a police interview in June 2023 where she admitted to asking James to do the deed.

“When you do horrible things sometimes you have to justify it to yourself,” Misseldine said. “I think that’s where she’s at.”

James declined to make a statement during the sentencing, but his defense attorney Steve McRae said his client suffered from illnesses including PTSD, and it was triggered when he was put into his position.

Court records detail James telling police that he “snapped” when he heard about a fight between Driesel and Miller.

“I felt like I was just trying to protect those who protect me,” James wrote in a statement.

McRae said his client regrets his actions.

During the investigation, James referred to Miller as her aunt, but no known blood relationship is known to exist.

Misseldine called the murder “senseless,” like all the others he has dealt with in his law career.

Besides Schwarz, Driesel’s father Larry and his son spoke before District Judge Rosemary Emory.

A frail-looking Larry Driesel said he took Miller into his home — “like a daughter.”

“I don’t know why she did this,” he later said.

While their impact statements were brief, they wrote longer statements that were included in the pre-sentence report.

Emory agreed with defense attorneys and Misseldine that the plea deal reached through a mediation process was reasonable, and besides the 25 years to life prison sentence, with 463 days credit for time served, the two were ordered to jointly pay $2,000 as reimbursem*nt for Driesel’s funeral expenses, as well as pay $2,000 each as a civil penalty to Larry Driesel and his family.

Emory noted the impact the murder had to the victim’s family.

“There can be no greater harm than what occurred in this case,” she said.