COVINGTON — A Northern Kentucky state representative has filed a bill to eliminate the state's 70-year cap on consecutive prison sentences, following the conviction of a Kenton County man on 20 counts related to child sexual abuse material.
Robbie Ray Miller, 32, was found guilty last week of nine counts of distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor involving a child under 12, nine counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor involving a child under 12, one count of distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor involving a child under 18, and one count of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor involving a child under 18. The jury recommended the maximum sentence of 285 years.
Under Kentucky law, however, the total sentence cannot exceed 70 years when a convicted felon receives consecutive indeterminate terms of imprisonment. Miller will also be eligible for parole after 20 years — the maximum parole eligibility threshold under Kentucky law, regardless of the length of a numerical sentence.
WATCH: NKY lawmaker files bill to end Kentucky's 70-year sentencing cap
Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said the evidence presented during the two-day trial was among the most disturbing his office has encountered.
"These videos were very difficult to watch," Sanders said.
Sanders said the jury's recommendation carried weight beyond the courtroom.
"I think this jury was sending a message to the parole board, knowing that he would be eligible for parole in 20 years," Sanders said. "The jury wanted the parole board members to know just how seriously they took his offenses and how offended that they were at how grotesque these images and videos were."
Sanders described the 70-year cap as arbitrary and said it undermines the jury's role in sentencing.
"It's frustrating, almost embarrassing, to have to tell jurors that no matter what sentence you give this defendant, he could be out in as little as 20 years," Sanders said.
Sanders took to social media after the verdict, drawing attention to the sentencing cap. After reading his post, we emailed every Kenton County legislator. Within an hour, state Rep. Kim Banta got back to us.
"When I got your text, I was like, 'Oh no,'" Banta said.
Banta, a Republican representing District 63, told us she contacted Sanders, asking what she could do about the judicial limit.
"Rob was very to the point: 'Get rid of this statute,'" Banta said. "It's a half page. This is a very simplistic bill. If you can do those little steps that fill in the gaps in the law that keep somebody from getting out that shouldn't be out, that needs help, needs to be incarcerated."
Banta has since filed House Bill 893, which would remove the language in KRS 532.110 that caps aggregate consecutive indeterminate prison terms at 70 years.
Sanders said he had already been in contact with a Northern Kentucky state senator who had put in a bill request to address the cap before Banta filed her legislation.
"It's great that she responded so quickly," Sanders said. "And even if they just removed the 70-year cap for crimes against children, I think that would be a very good start."
Sanders questioned why the cap exists at all.
"Why 70 years? Why not 60 years? Why not 80 years? Why not 100 years? Or we can just let the juries that we trust to make life and death determinations — we can trust juries to set a proper sentence," Sanders said. "If we can trust juries to do that, why do we have a law that just arbitrarily cuts the jury off at 70 years?"
Banta said he does not expect the bill to receive bipartisan support.
"No. I don't," Sanders said. "I think that there's — people have a lot of feelings about putting people in jail for really long periods of time because people change, people get help, people evolve, whatever you want to say. Child abuse is something different for me. I don't think it's something you can fix."
Though the American Civil Liberties Union typically does not handle cases that involve criminal prosecutions, we reached out to the Kentucky chapter about how removing the sentencing cap could be detrimental to the state's justice system. We did not hear back by the time of publication.
Covington police began investigating Miller when a detective with the department's DART unit, which investigates crimes against children, received three cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) alerting police that a user on the social messaging platform KIK was sending videos depicting child sexual assault to other users and group chats.
The Covington Police Department is one of only two departments in Kenton County participating in the NCMEC Task Force.
Miller was eventually arrested in Butler County in March 2025 before being extradited to Kenton County.
Sanders encouraged residents to contact their legislators while the General Assembly is in session.
"Now is a perfect time to be reaching out and contacting legislators," Sanders said. "Let them know the people that get life sentences or 285-year sentences should be serving more than 20 years before they're parole eligible. Let them know that we shouldn't artificially cap sentences at 70 years."
