Man charged with capital murder of deputy had violent past, say prosecutors

HOUSTON - Shannon Miles was charged with an assault that doctors said could have paralyzed, or even killed the victim.

The assault occurred in 2012, at an Austin Salvation Army facility, where Miles lived.  He was charged with Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon, after prosecutors say he beat a fellow resident, knocking him unconscious,  then repeatedly kicking him in the head and neck with steel-toed boots.  Records show that, when police arrived, "his right boot had what appeared to be blood covering the toe area from the toe to the laces of the boot."

Multiple witness accounts state that miles was "punching and kicking" a man named Pete Wayne, who was already "on the floor and appeared to be unconscious."

Witnesses also said there was "blood pooling and splattering on the floor, and splattering and spraying the wall above and around the victim, from the force and violence of the assault by Miles."

Multiple witnesses told police that three other men had tried to stop the assault but that "miles immediately got up…and went back to kicking Pete in the head."

Doctors who saw the victim said he had a broken neck, specifically, cervical vertebra C-1, the highest vertebra in the neck, and that he "could suffer paralysis or death due to the location and seriousness of the broken vertebra."

Miles was at first declared mentally unfit to stand trial, and sent to a state mental hospital.  He was later found competent to stand trial, but the case had to be dropped, prosecutors say, because, they were unable to locate the victim.