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Surprise witness implicates suspect Says Perry vowed to kill Miller By ALBERTO ENRIQUEZ A surprise witness in the murder trial of Cameron Blaine Perry said Wednesday that the Wimer man twice came to her home looking for the victim, and upon his second visit told her he intended to kill Paul "Bern" Miller when he found him. "Cam said, `When I find him I'm going to kill him,"' Karen Kalteich testified. "I said, `You've been friends a long time -- I'm sure it can be worked out,' and he said, `No. I'm going to kill him when I find him."' Kalteich said she did not contact the Jackson County district attorney's office until Wednesday because she initially hadn't taken the comment literally, was out state during part of 1998 and later thought the trial was over. She learned that it had just begun from a news report Tuesday. Kalteich's testimony came at the end of the second day of trial in the courtroom of Judge Ray White. The killing is believed to have occurred on Oct. 26, 1997, Miller's 21st birthday. Kalteich says Perry visited her on that date about 11 a.m. and again in the afternoon. The body was not found for a month and a half. The defense previously had presented expert testimony that the victim was killed by several bullet wounds to the head, and that bullets found in his skull probably were fired from a semi-automatic in the defendant's possession. Under questioning by prosecutor Judi Harper, Kalteich said Perry appeared sober and responsive as he made the threats in front of two friends. One of those friends, Christopher Hughes, testified under subpoena earlier in the day. Hughes has been convicted of tampering with evidence in the case, having swept away tire tracks and footprints at the murder scene. He told the court that on the day of the killing he drove Perry and another friend, Kris Gilliver, around as they looked for Miller. They were looking for Miller because they believed he'd stolen marijuana from Perry. Hughes said he later drove Perry, Gilliver and the victim to the scene of the crime at Sykes Creek Road. There they smoked marijuana and drank beer. Then -- without warning -- Perry shot Miller, who was standing opposite the pickup truck, Hughes said. "Do you recall what Perry said?" Harper asked. "He said, `How did you like your last hit (puff of marijuana)?' Then I heard a pop, and I turned around, and Bern (Paul Miller) was gone." Hughes said Miller was down but still making "half words" after that first shot. He said he and Gilliver began to walk away, then heard but did not see the defendant fire more shots, "too many to count." Turning around, they saw that Perry had dragged the body down an embankment and off the road, he said. Public defender Justin Smith, who has raised an insanity defense, asked Hughes how much they had been drinking and how long. "What did you mean when you said, `That was not Cam,"' Smith asked, probing for Hughes' impression of Perry immediately after the shooting. "Wasn't Cam in shock too?" "Yes," Hughes replied. Harper in her questions to Kalteich later emphasized that the killing was sober and premeditated. Harper had found support for her view earlier in the day when she called 19-year-old Jason Kisse to the stand. Kisse testified that about a week before Miller disappeared, Perry had interrogated Kisse and his friends about the missing marijuana. Kisse said Perry told him that he knew Miller "did it for sure, and I'm going to kill him." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA