Only a month into the probe, however, Democrats claimed that Thomas "Papa Bear" Miller, a detective hired by Jenkins' campaign to investigate claims of fraud, had coached witnesses to claim they had participated in election fraud. The Jenkins campaign denied the charge and declared it to be a Democratic attempt to distract attention from the massive vote-buying and election fraud they said had occurred in the election. Miller had several felony convictions on his record, including a guilty plea to attempted murder. Miller was killed in a drive- by shooting in May 2003. The Democrats walked out of the probe in protest, but the deliberations continued.