Des Moines City Council candidate has criminal convictions

Driving the news: Robert "RJ" Lamar Miller Jr., 33, is a candidate for Des Moines' Ward 1 seat.

• He leads Greater Opportunities Inc., a local nonprofit that mentors students from Des Moines schools.
• Miller has also helped hold town halls addressing youth violence.
• He was endorsed by Democratic state Rep. Ruth Ann Gaines, a prominent Black community leader.

State of play: Miller had several criminal convictions in Minnesota, including second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in 2008, receiving stolen property in 2012 and domestic assault by strangulation and terroristic threat in 2017, both felonies.

• Miller's domestic assault charge followed a fight with his then-girlfriend, according to Hennepin County court records.
• In a judge's guilty order and "finding of fact," he wrote that Miller was upset with the victim and said, "I'll kill you b—-." He then punched, choked and pulled a handgun on her.

In 2020, after moving to Des Moines, Miller was charged with two misdemeanor counts of harassment and pleaded guilty to them in 2021, according to court documents.

• Des Moines police connected Miller to "Iowa Anonymous Legion" and "Black Liberation Movement" Facebook pages. Social media campaigns on the pages accused two Dunkin Donuts employees of being racist and encouraged people to contact them.
• The posts included the employees' names, home addresses, Social Security numbers and personal phone numbers, according to two criminal complaints.
• One victim told police she feared for her life after someone called the store and threatened that "she will be dealt with personally violently or non-violently" if she was not fired, according to a DMPD incident report. The identity of the caller is unclear.

Zoom in: In October 2021, DMPS officials banned Miller from East High School after he accused the former principal of sending racist text messages. Miller at the time was with Urban Dreams, a different nonprofit that works with students.

• Police ultimately said the accusations were unfounded. The Polk County Attorney's Office did not have enough evidence to charge Miller with harassment.
• A criminal trespass order was placed on Miller after the East High School incident, but he is still allowed to work in the district's other buildings, DMPS Phil Roeder tells Axios.

On his personal Facebook page, which was reviewed by Axios, Miller has expressed anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. On June 8, he posted "Straight Pride" with a heart emoji.

• In July 2022, he posted "stop sexualizing kids" in a picture he shared showing "The Gay BC's," an LGBTQ+ children's book.
• The posts have since been deleted.

Of note: Axios confirmed with the state that Miller is allowed to run for office due Gov. Kim Reynolds' 2020 executive order restoring voting rights to felons who have served their sentences.

What they're saying: In a letter written to a Hennepin County judge in 2021, Miller requested an early end to his probation for the domestic assault charge, saying "people can change."

• Following his move to Iowa, Miller found employment, got involved in political activism and entered therapy in 2020, according to a letter to the judge from Miller's defense attorney.
• His defense attorney also advocated for his early release from probation, which was granted, per court records.

In a statement to Axios, Miller said racial disparities in the criminal justice system can result in Black men being charged with crimes they did not commit.

• And even when Black men have repaid "their debt to society" they still face stigma and "becoming a better citizen to society is not feasible," he says.
• After sending his statement, he also sent texts saying, "You reporters go very low and lie etc" and said he got a private investigator to look up "every bad thing past and present you have ever done."