Daniel C. Miller and Austin Fry went by the menacing-sounding name of “Omaha Mafia Bloods.”

Daniel C. Miller and Austin Fry went by the menacing-sounding name of “Omaha Mafia Bloods.”On the other side was Julius Robinson, an 18-year-old who had just broken off from that group to form his own menacing-sounding Millard gang — “LOC 228.” The LOC stood for Loc’ed Out Criminals — and the 228 was some combination of Robinson’s and other members’ birthdays.The feud between the groups had heated up in the late spring of 2008, when Robinson was accused of stealing $500 from Fry during a marijuana deal.
Then the spat became deadly when Miller and Fry drove to a southwest Omaha apartment complex to settle it.What happened next is not in dispute: Miller pulled a .357 Magnum revolver and, from the passenger’s seat of Fry’s Chrysler, fired twice — hitting Robinson once and killing him.
What remains in dispute is why.In opening statements Tuesday for Miller’s first-degree murder trial, Miller’s attorney, Greg Abboud, said Miller had no choice but to fire after the car he was in was ambushed by at least 10 members of Robinson’s gang.
“Dan Miller, realizing the gravity of the situation, shot him,” Abboud said. “He shot him in self-defense.
“(Another witness) will tell you the same thing. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation.”Hardly, prosecutor John Alagaban said.
Alagaban equated Miller’s actions to those of a drive-by shooter. Alagaban said no evidence would be presented at trial that Robinson or any of his fellow LOC 228 members had guns.
In fact, Alagaban said, Robinson had taken off his shirt and was brandishing nothing more than a novelty 12- to 18-inch baseball bat when he approached the car carrying Miller.Alagaban said tensions had grown between the groups since Robinson’s departure weeks earlier from the Omaha Mafia Bloods gang.
On June 15, 2008, the two groups made plans to fight at a gas station. Soon after, someone gave word to Miller, who was swimming at a pool.
Miller left the pool and went to his parents’ west Omaha house to get the .357 Magnum he had hidden under his mattress.
He then loaded the revolver with two bullets.
Fry, who is expected to testify for the prosecution, drove Miller and two other OMB members to the apartment complex near 128th and Q Streets.
Abboud said Miller and his three friends were overwhelmed as they drove up. Some of Robinson’s fellow group members will admit that they planned to ambush the car before Miller, Fry and their friends could get out, Abboud said.
That’s exactly what they did, Abboud said.
“It was an ambush,” Abboud said. “They’ll tell you that one of the strategies was, ‘Act first. Don’t let them get out of the car. Then we pull them out of the car and beat them.’
“That’s what the plan was.”
Abboud said Miller will testify that he thought one of Robinson’s gang members had a rifle he was pumping. In reality, Abboud said, that object may have been a pipe that was about the same size and circumference as the barrel of a rifle.
An apartment manager will describe finding a butterfly knife in a bush near where Robinson lay dying — a knife overlooked by police, Abboud said.
Witnesses also will testify that Robinson had crouched behind a sign before jumping out and rushing the car, Abboud said.
At least one passenger in the car with Miller will testify that it was a “kill or be killed situation,” Abboud said.
Alagaban painted a different picture. The prosecutor pointed out that Robinson had his shirt off and carried only a novelty bat — one that a police officer described as a 12- to 18-inch-long Royals souvenir.
“The victim has his shirt off in fistfight mode, (saying) ‘Let’s go,’” Alagaban said.
Alagaban said Miller had several options short of shooting. If they feared for their lives, Miller and his friends had an easy escape by driving on down the street, away from the approaching group.
Instead, Alagaban said, Miller raised his gun as he sat in the passenger seat, fired across Fry and killed Robinson as he approached the driver’s side door.
“Daniel Miller was there on June 15, 2008, to kill Julius Robinson,” Alagaban said. “And that’s what he did.”

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