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A courthouse engulfed in flames. A community watching helplessly as history burns. And one man's terrifying 24-hour crime spree that changed Mason County, Texas forever.

District Attorney Tonya Ahlschwede and Assistant DA Havana Schmidt take us deep inside one of rural Texas's most complex criminal investigations - the 2021 Mason County courthouse arson. What began as a house fire quickly escalated into something far more sinister when Nicholas Miller deliberately torched the historic courthouse while first responders were distracted battling the initial blaze.

"We all sat around the square with everybody else in town and watched it burn," recalls Schmidt, who witnessed the courthouse fire before later joining the prosecution team that would bring Miller to justice. The prosecutors meticulously reconstruct the night's events, revealing how one calculated arson transformed into an extended crime spree involving armed robbery, vehicle theft, and culminating in a dramatic 60-mile high-speed chase broadcast live on Facebook.

The investigation required extraordinary coordination between local law enforcement, Texas Rangers, and forensic experts to piece together evidence from multiple crime scenes spanning several counties. With over 200 exhibits presented during trial, prosecutors faced the daunting challenge of connecting all elements of Miller's rampage while demonstrating his clear premeditation through recovered text messages and online posts.

This conversation offers rare prosecutor insights into a case that struck at the heart of a small community where "we all know each other, grow up together." Despite Miller's attempt to disrupt the justice system by literally burning it down, Mason County's resilience shines through - the courthouse has been rebuilt, and as Ahlschwede proudly notes, "the justice system is still intact, despite somebody trying to burn down the courthouse."

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