KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The man who was found guilty of killing two Kissimmee Police Department officers back in 2017 was sentenced to death Friday in Osceola County Court.

Judge Greg A. Tynan said a public defender will be appointed to represent Everett Miller in his automatic appeal.

The attorney for Miller, Frank Bankowitz, said he will file an appeal with the Supreme Court next week.

 In 2019, Miller was convicted of fatally shooting officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard.

In August of 2017, the two officers were responding to a call of shots fired in the area of Palmway and Cypress streets when they were shot. At about 9:32 p.m., dispatchers received an emergency call about officers being shot.

The jury that convicted Miller had recommended the death penalty.

Miller, whose last known address was in Orlando, was a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He last served at U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and reached the rank of master sergeant.

Miller sat silent during the proceeding, but for his loved ones inside the courtroom, hearing the sentencing was an emotional moment. Miller’s relatives were seen gathering and praying in the hallway. 

Some family and friends of the two officers said they didn’t have a preference over life or death, they just wanted justice to be served, no matter what that looked like. 

“I can finally say that I feel a burden lifted off of my shoulders, because I don’t plan on continuing to go to any future hearings, if there are any," Mathew Baxter's widow, Sadia Baxter, said. "I feel like I made my family proud, I think I made Matthew proud and I think I made all the law enforcement officers who could not be here proud.”  

Kissimmee Police Officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard were fatally shot on Aug. 18, 2017. (File photo)