A man who was declared dead after disappearing decades ago is finding that a resurrection is extremely difficult to achieve.
61-year-old Donald Miller Jr. disappeared from his Ohio home in the late 80s and was declared dead eight years later. According to the New York Daily News, Miller had left his now ex-wife and their two children, along with tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid child support.
Miller showed up in court this week, alive and well, wanting a judge to overturn the ruling of his death. He said that he finally returned home around 2005, not knowing that he had been declared legally dead, reports CNN.
Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis could not help him, refusing to overturn the ruling to bring him back from the dead, which would reinstate his Social Security number as well as allow him to get a driver’s license.
Davis was in the right to give that ruling, however, because a statute in the state of Ohio says that a death ruling cannot be overturned after three years, let alone the 19 years it has been since Miller was declared dead.
"We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health," Davis told Miller, according to ABC News."I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned."
According to Judge Davis, Miller still has 30 days to appeal the ruling.