Cody Lee Miller garnered national attention by ascending an 80-foot tall sequoia tree in downtown Seattle Tuesday and refusing to come down until the following day, more than 24 hours later. The man allegedly ignored police entreaties for much of the time and threw branches and “rock hard green pine cones” at responders.
On Thursday night, Miller garnered even more headlines with reports that he had failed to show up in court over his tree trespass. He didn’t skip bail or take other measures to evade law enforcement. Rather, he refused to leave his cell for his first court appearance after police brought him in for the tree incident Wednesday.
Apparently, whenever Miller plants himself somewhere, he just likes to stay there for a while.
In Miller’s absence, Seattle police released a probable cause statement in which an arborist estimated the damage he had done to the tree at “about $7,800,” reported the AP.
It also came out that Miller had a prior arrest record. He had been reported to police last week for sitting on the sidewalk in front of a Starbucks in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Miller was arrested Saturday for giving a false name to a police officer while “ranting about the United States of America’s Bill of Rights.”
