Bart Betteau, attorney for former Clark County Council member John Miller, argues he should get a new prosecutor in his criminal case. (Aprile Rickert / LPM)A former Clark County Council member charged in the investigation of former Sheriff Jamey Noel won't get a new judge or prosecutor.John Mill er, who was elected to the council in 2020 and served one term, was charged in 2024 with a felony for conflict of interest.Court records related to the charge allege Miller accepted gifts such as meals and travel from Noel and voted on funding for New Chapel EMS, an emergency services company that Noel operated and the county contracted with. In court records, the investigator alleges Noel paid for at least some of these gifts to Miller and other associates with money from the emergency services company.Miller’s charge states he voted for the funding and “derived benefits of value from Noel/New Chapel.”Miller is one of multiple people ultimately charged in the massive investigation of the former sheriff. Noel is serving prison time for more than two dozen felonies, and some other people have pleaded guilty.But Miller, the last defendant with an open case, has continued to fight his case.His defense team filed motions in March for a new judge and prosecutor, arguing in court filings the ones assigned to his case could be biased or have a conflict of interest.Judge Larry Medlock, who presided over other cases in the investigation, denied those petitions last week, online court records show.Miller’s defense team argued for a new prosecutor after finding a roughly four-minute video of what they believed to be campaign material for Ripley County Prosecutor Ric Hertel, which they say included footage from Miller’s and other related cases. Hertel was assigned as a special prosecutor to the cases related to Noel’s investigation.Miller's attorneys said he needs a new prosecutor “to avoid the actual conflict of interest resulting from the prosecutor’s use of this case and related cases to advance a political campaign agenda,” court records show.Hertel said after a hearing on the matter last month the video was not campaign material, rather it was for a job application where he had to provide evidence of public statements he’d made.Defense attorney Bart Betteau said after the hearing last month it doesn’t matter what the purpose of the video was. In his view, the prosecutor “can only be motivated by the interest of justice.”Medlock, the judge, said in his order that the petitioner has the burden to prove evidence of an actual conflict and that a potential for a conflict is not sufficient.He wrote that “it is clear to the court that the reasoning used by the defense in this case is not nearly enough to justify removing the Special Prosecutor.”Medlock also, for the second time, denied Miller a new judge, although he didn’t give a reason in his order.Miller’s defense team had called into question the judge’s actions at a 2025 auction for Noel’s vehicles in their renewed call for a new person to preside over the case. A TV news segment included Medlock slamming the gavel when one of the cars sold, apparently recreating a moment in court where he broke a gavel in a Noel hearing.Miller’s legal team also requested a new judge in early 2025, saying Medlock’s denial for Miller to travel to Washington, D.C. for President Donald Trump’s inauguration showed bias or at least created an appearance of impropriety.Miller’s attorneys have made unsuccessful attempts to get Miller’s charge dismissed, even asking to get the Indiana Supreme Court to weigh in.LPM News reached out to Miller’s legal team Monday afternoon for comment and did not hear back by publication time.Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County. ...read more read less