Former Montana State player pleads guilty in shooting death

1/4/2008 4:16 PM

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -Former Montana State basketball player Brandon Miller pleaded guilty Friday for his role in the shooting death of a cocaine dealer.

The 23-year-old Miller pleaded guilty to murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the June 2006 death of Jason Wright, whose body was found in a university agricultural field.

Miller also pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon in a pistol-whipping at a downtown Bozeman bar two weeks before Wright was killed. A kidnapping charge in the Wright case was dismissed along with other charges in the bar fight.

District Judge Mike Salvagni scheduled Miller's sentencing for May 5. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending consecutive sentences totaling 130 years in prison. Miller's defense also will be allowed to make a sentencing recommendation, said public defender Peter Ohman.

Also charged in the Wright case is John Lebrum, a former Montana State redshirt football player. His trial is scheduled for April.

Miller, from Milwaukee, transferred to Montana State from Colby (Kans.) Community College in the fall of 2004. He started 27 of 28 games during the 2004-05 season. He became academically ineligible and was dismissed from the team on Dec. 6, 2005.

Lebrum, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was a freshman football player in the fall of 2003. He redshirted during that season and was dismissed from the team on Aug. 30, 2004, for disciplinary reasons, school officials said. Lebrum also has been indicted on federal drug charges, but no details have been released.

In October 2005, Lebrum broke a man's jaw in a fight during a pickup basketball game on campus and was convicted of felony criminal endangerment.