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Perry guilty of murder, coverup 'Everybody loses,' victim's mother says after ruling By Alberto Enriquez A jury found Cameron Blaine Perry, 22, guilty of the murder of Paul "Bern" Miller -- and of tampering with evidence in an attempt to cover up the crime -- in two unanimous verdicts on Friday. Jackson County Judge Ray White set sentencing for Perry at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 22. In Oregon, murder carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years. Tampering with evidence is a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in jail. As White read the verdict, Perry sat as stony-faced as he had through much of the trial. There were few dry eyes in the rear of the courtroom, however, as the families and friends of the accused and the victim coped with the loss of one young man's life -- and the waste of another's. Several on both sides of the aisle have known each other for generations in Wimer and Rogue River. "It's hard on the whole community," said Lottie Martin, grandmother of the victim. "These are our kids. They grew up here -- and we love them. "I thought today I was glad my husband had passed away, so he didn't have to see it." Miller's mother, Cheryl Martin-Sund, said, "There's no justice in something like this because it doesn't bring Bern back. Everybody loses." Miller's stepfather, Bruce Sund, said one could only hope that other parents would realize what could result when unsupervised young people become involved with drugs. In his confession to police, Perry said he shot Miller because he suspected Miller had broken into his house and stolen marijuana stored in a bedroom. On Thursday, public defender Justin Smith called Ashland clinical psychologist Michael Knapp to testify that Perry suffered from ``intermittent explosive disorder," marked by uncontrolled outbursts of rage. But the prosecution called its own expert witness, Dr. Richard Hulteng, of Oregon State Hospital, Friday to rebut that diagnosis. Hulteng said IED was extremely rare. He said Perry suffers instead from a personality disorder that causes him to overreact to perceived slights or criticisms -- but which would not impair his judgment to the degree that would excuse murder. Given Perry's confession, an eyewitness to the crime, physical evidence, and Perry's statements to several different people that he intended to kill Miller, the defense had no other option than to concede the Oct. 26, 1997 murder, and plead not guilty because of insanity, Deputy District Attorney Judi Harper said. "What's the defense to do?" Harper said. "There's no other defense they can proffer, and it's not a good defense. This wasn't a blind rage. This was a planned murder, and he was cool and calculated when he followed through." Harper said the murder demonstrated extensive evidence of planning on Perry's part. He stopped to pick up a gun not easily traced to him. He drove around with two friends looking for the victim. They transported him to a remote logging road under the pretext of smoking marijuana on the victim's 21st birthday. He got the victim to drink alcohol, diminishing his abilities. Then he shot him without warning, not once, but many times to make sure he was dead. Almost immediately after the shooting, Perry began to hide the body by dragging it over an embankment, further evidence that the accused understood what he was doing and was planning how best to cover his tracks, she said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA