The owner of a $1.8 million vacation home in the Hamptons where two sisters caught fire and died has pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in an emotional trial.
Peter Miller, 56, and his wife Pamela, 55, appeared in court on Monday in matching dark blue shirts, right down to the buttons and collars
Both were charged in the deadly August 2022 fire that killed university students Jillian and Lindsay Wiener, ages 21 and 19, who were on a final family vacation with their terminally ill father, mother and brother.
Miller stated in court that he had carried out the electrical work on the house himself and had not had a safety inspection carried out.
Peter Miller, 56, and his wife Pamela Miller, 55, consult with their attorney Edward Burke Jr. in court in Riverhead, New York
Jillian Wiener, 21, (left) and her sister Lindsay, 19, of Potomac, Maryland, were trapped upstairs after a fire broke out in the apartment building overnight.
They admitted under oath that none of the smoke detectors worked and that a grill in an illegal outdoor kitchen was enclosed in a wooden frame that blocked ventilation.
The fire broke out in this kitchen. When asked about the grill, he replied: “I built it myself.”
“Are you aware that you have overloaded the electrical system?” asked prosecutor Sheetal Shetty.
He bit his lip and said yes.
The couple appeared in Suffolk County District Court in Riverhead, New York, on Monday, where Peter, the owner of the home, pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Pamela, who managed the rental property, pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of reckless endangerment.
The Millers still face 58 charges in Southampton City Court related to the illegal activities that led to the fire.
That case is expected to be resolved through a separate agreement next week.
The sisters were on holiday there with their parents Lewis, then 59, and Alisa, 56, and their 23-year-old brother Zachary when the house caught fire and they were trapped on the upper floor.
Southampton city authorities charged the Millers with violating various building codes, including defective smoke detectors and illegal construction on the property.
Before pleading guilty, both men repeatedly admitted under oath in a half-hour testimony that illegal and dangerous wiring had been installed in the house.
Peter Miller, the owner of the home, pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, while his wife Pamela, who managed the rental, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.
Pamela and Peter Miller were brought to court weeks after the fire in August 2022 after the apartment building was found to be in breach of various building regulations
The house caught fire at around 3:30 a.m. on August 3, 2022, and spread quickly without giving the two girls enough time to escape
Alisa, Zachary, Lewis, Jillian and Lindsay Weiner. The family was on what they believed would be their last family vacation since Lewis knew he was dying of pancreatic cancer.
Peter, a restaurateur, admitted to carrying out the illegal construction and electrical work on the house he and his wife bought in 2016.
His wife admitted to being the manager of the illegal short-term rental property that was rented to the victims’ family through the rental company HomeAway.
Lewis Wiener, a former federal prosecutor who knew he was dying of pancreatic cancer, paid $8,000 to rent the house, hoping to take his last week-long family vacation in the area of the Hamptons known as Noyack.
He died in April this year at the age of 61.
The parents, who were sleeping on the first floor of the house, were awakened at 3:30 a.m. on August 3 by the sound of shattering glass caused by the intense heat of the inferno that turned the house into a charred ruin.
They made it outside and then discovered that their children were trapped on the second floor where they had been sleeping.
Zachary escaped the fire by crawling onto a roof and jumping away, while Lewis bravely tried to save his daughters but was unable to overcome the wall of flames. Nor could the first firefighters to arrive save them.
Several fire departments from the Hamptons responded to the fire, which took several hours to fully contain.
It was only when the fire brigade began fighting the flames that they managed to reach the two women. But by then it was too late.
Jillian, who was about to begin her senior year at the University of Michigan, and Lindsay, a sophomore at Tulane University, were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where both were pronounced dead.
The parents and Zachary were also taken to the hospital, where they were treated and released.
Peter admitted that he had carried out the illegal construction and electrical work on the house, while his wife said she knew that the work had not been inspected.
Neighbors of the family in Potomac, Maryland, said they were popular in the community. Father Lewis Wiener was a lawyer and president of the Washington Hebrew Congregation
Shetty asked Pamela, the property manager, whether she was aware that the kitchen, grill and electrical system were illegal.
“Yes,” she replied. “Now I am aware of it. Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The verdict is scheduled for November 7.
Surviving members of the Wiener family are expected to be given the opportunity to provide victim impact statements before Judge Richard Horowitz announces the verdict.
The survivors are currently suing the Millers in federal court for their role in the deaths of the two young women.
They also tried to sue HomeAway, part of Vrbo, but the motion was dismissed by a judge last year.
In the lawsuit, the family stated, “Instead of fond memories of a week’s vacation on East Long Island, the Wiener family is left with a nightmare from which they cannot awaken.”
“The defendants’ greed, shortcuts, and willful disregard for the safety of the residents of the compound resulted in the deaths of Jillian Rose Wiener and her sister Lindsay Eliza Wiener.”
