A guilty plea has been entered in the 2009 Easter Sunday shooting death of 25-year old Danny Miller, but with the cooperation of Miller’s family, the charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter.

Adam Rader, 27, 103 Cross St., admitted in Warren County Circuit Court May 3 that he shot Miller, but said it was accidental. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

“The victim’s family wanted complete and sure closure to this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Dewey Arthur, explaining why the case did not proceed to trial on the murder charge. “They did not want any chance of him being released or filing an appeal.”

District Attorney Ricky Smith said it was an “open plea,” meaning prosecutors did not agree to a reduced sentence in return for the plea.

Sentencing will be June 11 at 9 a.m. by presiding Judge Isadore Patrick. Arthur and Miller’s family have asked Patrick to impose the maximum, while Rader’s father and his attorney, former Circuit Judge Frank Vollor, asked Patrick for leniency.

“It was a tragic, tragic thing for this community,” Patrick said Friday at a sentencing hearing, after listening to testimony from Rader and his wife and father, as well as tearful statements from Miller’s mother and sister.

“We’re pleading, me and my family, for some kind of closure for my brother Danny Miller,” Retha Miller told the judge. “To watch my brother be murdered is the hardest thing I will have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

She said Miller’s small nephews had been among those at a party when her brother, unarmed, had been threatened and then shot. “It took a toll on all of us. To me, he’s been cutting a deal,” she said of Rader, and pleaded with Patrick for the maximum penalty.

Vollor said the shooting was a “stupid move on his part” but accidental, and that Rader and all his family is sorry for it.

“Adam’s been a good boy,” the defendant’s father, Freddie Rader, told the judge tearfully. “He’s done this, and I think he was under the influence of alcohol. I’m very sorry. If you could show leniency I would appreciate it and the family would appreciate it.”

Rader, handcuffed and shackled as he took the stand, also apologized to Miller’s family. He said he had fired three shots at Miller but the victim “was still running” when he, Rader, handed the gun off to the other man and went back up the hill.

“Why would you need to hand the gun off to another person if he’d been run off?” countered Arthur.

Miller, who was 25 and lived at 107 Belva Drive, was shot and killed April 12, 2009 after an afternoon-long party at a home in the 1400 block of Oakland Street, near Baldwin Ferry Road and Court Street, to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Rader, Miller and two other men fought when a pint bottle of Crown Royal appeared to be missing. Miller was chased down a hill near the residence, and five or six shots were fired.

Police responded to calls at 7:18 p.m. and found a chaotic scene with people screaming and at least one police officer attacked, said Vicksburg detective Brad Derring.

Miller was pronounced dead at the scene. Rader later turned himself in to police on the advice of his father. Another man, Derrick Turner, 26, 401 Pleasant Valley Drive, was held on $75,000 bond for accessory after the fact.

Smith said with Rader’s guilty plea, Turner’s case would probably not be prosecuted.

The gun was not recovered, and no whiskey was ever found, Smith said.

Rader faced at least three other charges of sale of a controlled substance in 2008 and 2009, and has been in the Warren County Jail. Smith said with this guilty plea, prosecutors would not go forward on the drug charges.

Miller worked for a local landscaping company. He had attended Vicksburg High School.

About 25 family members and friends of both Rader and Miller attended Friday’s hearing. Patrick cautioned them to exit the courthouse with dignity and respect, and the courtroom emptied without incident — Rader’s side under the direction of Vollor, and Miller’s with victim assistance coordinator Brenda Theriot.