Law&Crime Sidebar - Mica Miller's Husband Accused of Raping Teen in Explosive Lawsuit

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

South Carolina pastor John Paul Miller and his father Reginald are facing a lawsuit from a woman who says JP raped her when she was 15. She claims when she encountered him years later, he assaulted her again. The legal complaint comes as Miller himself filed more than a dozen lawsuits against people who protested outside his church following his wife Mica Miller’s death. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with Mica Miller’s family attorney Regina Ward about the latest allegations.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Embattled Pastor John Paul Miller, who already made headlines after his estranged wife, Micah, died last year, has just been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in a bombshell new lawsuit. And this comes as he's already filed lawsuits of his own against protesters, as well as allegations that he tried to bribe one of the people he was suing. There is clearly a lot to discuss here,

and we're going to bring on the former attorney from Micah Miller, who represents some of the parties here to get more insight into what's going on. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. What an update we have for you in the continuing story of John Paul. Miller. Now, we know that this South Carolina pastor really was thrust into the national spotlight after the death of his wife, Micah Miller, back on April 27, the 2024. She was found dead from what authorities have confirmed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lumber

River State Park. It's about an hour away from Myrtle Beach, where the couple had lived. But on that day, her whereabouts, they were captured on security cameras as she was seen leaving the home, going to a pawn shop, buying a weapon, going to a pawn shop, buying a weapon, going to going to a gas station and then in her final moments of life, Micah made this harrowing 911 phone call. Robinson County 911, what's the address of your emergency? Hi, um, are you able to trace the location of my phone? Um, let me see. You don't know where you're at. A national park. Tell me what's, um,

happen um I'm about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me okay ma'am just listen to what I'm seeing okay let me make sure I got the exact location where you're at okay just one minute and also during that call Micah asked if her phone could be tracked so that her family would know where to find her. And she abruptly hung up that call, attempts to reach her again were unsuccessful, and she died. And after her body was discovered, investigators located Micah's car. And inside they found a Sig Sauer handgun case in the passenger seat, a box of ammunition in the center console. There were receipts that were also discovered that corroborated the timeline of her movements that day. And just a few hours later,

the SIGSauer was found in the water and authorities were able to to match the weapon's serial number to the box that was found in Micah's car. Now, at the time of her death, it wasn't immediately known what her cause of death was. The medical examiner's office would release their findings just a few days later. But nonetheless, just what, one day after the shocking news of her passing, Pastor John Paul Miller, the estranged husband of Micah, made this announcement to the congregation of Solid Rock Church. I got a call late last night.

My wife has passed away. Yeah, and it was self-induced, and it was up in North Carolina. Y'all knew that she wasn't well mentally, and that she needed her medicine that was hard to get to her. And as arguably strange as that is, and it was reported that he told congregants not to talk about Micah's death, to be clear, authorities have confirmed that he was not involved in Micah's death, that he was hundreds of miles away in Charleston at the time that Micah died. and there was no indication that he is being investigated or was investigated in direct connection with Micah's death. However, her family, her friends, many who have been following this story believe there is more here that Micah wouldn't have done this.

And what is surfaced is an investigation into Micah's life with John Paul and allegations of abuse. They have surfaced both by Micah and also alarming allegations put forward by his ex-wife, Allison Williams. But more specifically with Micah, based on a police report, she had apparently indicated that she was groomed by John Paul Miller since 10 years old when she worked for him at the church. And at the time of her death, they were estranged. She had tried to separate from him. But when police had contacted John Paul, this is important, he told them that Micah suffered from mental health disorders, saying she, quote, spends large amounts of money when she stops taking her prescribed medication and that he took the car away from her so she wouldn't sell it.

And his attorney, Russell Long, released a statement at the time, saying, following the untimely death of Micah Miller, unfounded rumors and false accusations began circulating on social media and in various media outlets suggesting Pastor Miller's involvement in her demise. This created a buzz causing local and national media outlets to begin proliferating these falsehoods on a mammoth proportion. Our client refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife. reports claim that Pastor Miller groomed his wife from the age of 10 years old couldn't be farther from the truth. This is obviously an explosive lawsuit that we're talking about in the John Paul Miller case. And when you think about litigation, when you think about personal injury

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makes it so simple. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar. With all of that in mind, particularly the allegation that he groomed Micah when she was 10 years old, now we got to talk about the major updates. So first up, we have this bombshell lawsuit that was filed by an unnamed Jane Doe against John Paul Miller, his father, Reginald Wayne Miller, Solid Rock Ministries, and All Nations Cathedral Church, where Reginal was head pastor. Now, this was filed out in South Carolina, and she claims that John Paul Miller raped her when she was just 15 years old, and this was back in 1998, and then she claims he sexually assaulted

her again in 2023. Now, I'm going to get into the specific claims in a little bit, but let me just read you the opening paragraph of this complaint. It reads, quote, for years, John Paul Miller and Reginal Wayne Miller, also known as Reginald Wayne Miller, have presented themselves as devout religious leaders. They built their reputations in the Myrtle Beach community and beyond as men of faith, dedicated to spreading God's word and training future church leaders. But this image was a lie. Behind the religious facade, John Paul Miller and Reginald Wayne Miller engaged in sexual abuse and predatory conduct often targeting minors. They use their positions of power to manipulate and exploit vulnerable victims while concealing their actions from the public. Upon information and

belief, this deception has shielded them from law enforcement scrutiny, allowing the misconduct to continue unchecked. So when she claims upon information and belief, she doesn't really have the definitive proof of that, but it's something that's based on what she's seen, based on what she's been told. She believes that to be true, but this is something that she will probably try to get more evidence about during the course of the litigation. And the reasons, by the way, the entities and Reginald are on the hook to is because Jane Doe alleges that these religious institutions had a duty to ensure that their employees or agents would not exploit or abuse children. And according to her, they failed. Quote, these institutions were not created to only serve God, but to further

Miller and John Paul Miller's predatory behavior. The churches and the related entities operated without adequate protections for minors, creating an environment where abuse could thrive. Upon information of belief, this was not accidental. It was part of a calculated plan to groom victims while simultaneously gaining the community's trust and financial support. RWM, this is again, Reginal, had personally engaged in sexual misconduct before 1998. He knew his son was engaging in sexual misconduct.

This was the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse. RWM did not institute any type of safeguard over the dangers posed by JPM or RWM had complete control over the church by virtue of the bylaws, which left him in complete control of the church without any oversight by anyone else. Though he was in control, there were other leaders of the church who could have intervened to protect minors at the church. They did not. They ceded complete control to RWM, who allowed his son, JPM, to have free reign over the church and the minors of the church. This church was JPM's sexual playground. Leadership at the church, including RWM, could have undertaken something to protect the miners at the church from JPM and any other predator, including RWM. They did not. And here there is a mention of Micah Miller.

Recently, the death of John Paul Miller's ex-wife, Micah Francis Miller, has once again drawn attention to both John Paul Miller and Reginald Wayne Miller. Micah Francis Miller's relationship with John Paul Miller was deeply troubled. Upon information and belief, it exemplified the power and control he exercised over women in the church. The defendants, both individually and together, have built, maintained, and concealed the system of sexual misconduct that harmed numerous minors, including plaintiff Jane Doe No. 1. Okay, so now let's get into the alleged incidents here.

So we're going to first start with the one from 1998. Again, when she says she was just 15 years old and J.P. was apparently 19. Quote, on or about July 19th, 1998, a Sunday morning, so very specific. Actually, what you're about to hear is a lot of specifics. Plaintiff attended Cathedral, formerly All Nations Church. Plaintiff initially intended to attend Sunday school with her grandmother but changed her mind and instead went to the church building where she, intended on going to her grandfather's Sunday school class. The classes had begun and the doors

were shut, and Jane Doe No. 1 wasn't aware which room he was in, so instead of interrupting classes, she entered the main church sanctuary. JPM was playing the piano, and another band member was strumming a guitar. Upon noticing Plaintiff, JPM engaged her in conversation. At some point, plaintiff stepped away from the sanctuary and walked down the hall to the restroom. When plaintiff exited the restroom, she encountered JPM standing near his father. office door. JPM called out plaintiff's name and initiated a seemingly innocent conversation, inquiring about a mutual friend's recent absence from church. Without warning, JPM forced plaintiff inside his father's office shutting the door behind him. JPM immediately became aggressive,

physically overpowering plaintiff and forcing her against the wall. Despite plaintiff's struggles and verbal pleas for him to stop, JPM ignored her and forcibly moved her out of the office down the hallway and to a door that led outside to a grassy side yard of the church where JPM's truck was parked. JPM then forced Jando number one into his truck and that is where he raped her. At the time of the assault, plaintiff was a virgin. And she claims afterward that she was filled with shock, shame, fear that she suffered from the effects of trauma, depression, that she claimed she repressed what happened to her until 2023 when she claims she was assaulted by John Paul again. So this actually is important. It goes to the idea of why didn't you report this

earlier. So the complaint explains that at the time John Paul in 2023, he was this high-ranking pastor. And she ended up running into him in Myrtle Beach while she was with a friend. And the complaint reads, despite being in a public setting, JPM leaned into Jane Doe number one as if to hug her, and shoved his hand down her pants touching her genitals without consent. Plaintiff immediately recoiled and tried to brush it off and moved his hand because she didn't think her friend noticed and she was scared. About 30 minutes later, Janeo No. 1 and JPM had a heated argument about him using the title of pastor and using scripture to justify sexual misconduct.

In response, JPM cited scripture telling plaintiff, No man is without sin and temptation. God understands that. And she explains that shortly after this alleged assault is when she found out that Micah died. Now, she is suing under five causes of action here. So first up, negligence, gross negligence, and recklessness, namely that the defendants had a duty to prevent Jane Doe from suffering harm at the church, especially, according to Jane Doe, when Reginald and others knew the danger that John Paul presented.

And yet, John Paul ended up exploiting and assaulting her. That's the allegation. In other words, they failed to protect her from. foreseeable harm. Foreseeability is a huge component in negligence cases. And there was also a failure to implement a system of protection or train employees or warn of the known dangers and so forth. Second, we have a claim for civil conspiracy, so namely that all the defendants engaged

in a deliberate concerted effort to conceal, suppress, and enable the alleged sexual misconduct of John Paul Miller, including allowing him to maintain a leadership position, refusing to report him and suppressing evidence against him from coming out. That's the allegation in point two. Third is for assault and battery. So assault, meaning John Paul allegedly threatened and intended to harm Jane Doe on multiple occasions. And the battery is that he allegedly inappropriately touched and violated her. Four, we have the claims that all the defendants recklessly or intentionally inflicted severe emotional distress on Jane Doe,

that this conduct was extreme and outrageous. And then finally, we have five. Violation of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act. So the argument here is that the defendants misrepresented themselves to the public as organizations that provide a safe and nurturing environment for children when, according to her, in reality, they are not. That they created a false impression that they have the proper procedures in place to protect children, but they don't. In other words, the allegation is that this is deceptive business. practices, and she is suing for a whole wide variety of different kinds of damages here. Now, one more thing I have to mention in this lawsuit is an accompanying affidavit.

So as Jane Doe claims in the complaint, quote, in her sworn affidavit, Susan Miller, so this is RWM's ex-wife, Reginald Miller's ex-wife, detailed how RWM physically and emotionally abused his family and exercised absolute control over both his household and his church congregation. And when you read that apparent affidavit from Susan Miller from 2001, she claims, amongst other things, that Reginald, her husband didn't love her as much as she loved him, that he didn't want to be intimate with her, calling her too fat and, quote, not a turn on, that he physically beat John Paul Miller with a leather belt when he was just five or six years old, and how there were reports that Reginald had made sexual advances towards men. Now, obviously, this is a

significant development, right, in this story. But I will tell you, it is also a significant development in that John Paul Miller is already engaged in a lot of litigation right now. One thing we haven't talked about is that he filed 20 separate lawsuits against people who he says are demonstrating or demonstrated outside of his former church, Solid Rock Church, after Micah's death. These are people calling for justice for Micah. And he apparently sued all of these people for claims of invasion of privacy and defamation. However, according to South Carolina court records, six of those cases were dismissed, and on February 20th, John Paul Miller, who is apparently representing himself, offered to drop the cases if the defendants agree to stay 500 feet away

from his new church. This is according to reporting by Post and Courier. So we're going to be speaking with an attorney who's apparently representing several of those defendants in a minute and has been actively following the John Paul Micah Miller situation. By the way, she actually represented Micah Miller at one point, but there is another legal development regarding this that we want to talk about as well. Because as reported by Fitz News, one of the people that John Paul Miller is suing, a woman named Melissa Moncarry, she claims he tried to bribe her. Yeah, the allegation is, is that he offered to pay her money to lie under oath and that he would drop his suit against her in exchange. And the way that she claims she can prove this, she apparently filed a

with the clerk of the Horry County Court that contained screenshots of her communications with John Paul. We don't have those screenshots, but we have a description of what's being talked about here, that he allegedly, according to Fitz News, that he wanted her to testify that these protesters, quote, attack cars, harass him, take pictures of license plates, post-license plates online, abuse him and stalk him at every location he visits. That is the allegation that he wanted her to testify to this. Now, again, she wasn't going to testify to this.

She didn't believe it. And she even reportedly went to the police about this. By the way, she had raised a challenge that she wasn't properly served, and in the end, his attorney dismissed the case against her. But, but we also know that John Paul Miller has faced other legal trouble in connection with these protesters or demonstrators. You see, on November 1st of last year, the FBI reportedly searched John Paul Miller's home, where they were seen removing items, although we still don't know and have further information

on their findings or what's going on with that apparent investigation, but that was significant too. And I'll also tell you, based on Mencarry's account, it is reported that there are now allegations John Paul Miller may have been trying to make sure authorities weren't monitoring his phone in connection with that investigation. But shortly after that search, tensions with protesters, they boiled over. And John Paul Miller, he was arrested after he got into an altercation with a woman outside of the church. That incident happened on November 6th, and video of that confrontation was posted on social media. Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh, y'all, what's going on? And he was later arrested for allegedly touching the bill of that woman's hat. He was charged with third-degree assault and battery. He was released on bomb the following day. Okay, so with all that in mind, I want to bring on a special guest right now. somebody who is intimately involved in a lot of what's going on here. I want to bring back on to Sidebar, Regina Ward, South Carolina attorney,

who represents several of the defendants in these actions that were filed by John Paul Miller. At one point in time, she had represented Micah Miller's family in a state and even Micah Miller at one point. Regina, thank you so much for coming on here on Sidebar. There's so much I want to talk to you about. First up, your reaction to this new lawsuit filed by Jane Dell. Yes. Actually, you know, we've been getting some phone calls from people who have told us, when I say us, it's me and some other folks too. I'm not speaking on behalf of FBI. A lot of people are misconstruing that. But people have been coming forward. And so we were very happy that there was, there is a victim who has decided to go forward and file the suit. I think that it's going to emboldened and give confidence to other victims. I am personally aware of a couple of other victims.

As you notice on the document, it's, you know, it's the Jane Doe number one. Normally, if we're suing on behalf of Jane Doe, we just say Jane Doe or John Doe whenever we file something. But I think that Mr. Hood just did a fabulous job in the pleadings and I don't like to use the word happy because it's not under happy circumstances, but I am very thrilled and happy to see that this has been initiated and started. Are there statute of limitations issues? You know, you consider this to be a claim from about 1998, assault and battery, there's negligence claims, there's also a violation of state law, a state statute. Is there a statute of limitations issue with this claim? Well, that's part of the reason why Attorney Hood, who wrote the...

the document or wrote the pleadings, went ahead and addressed that. There is case law on point that, you know, basically when a statute of limitation begins to run is when you actually know that, you know, you've been harmed by something or you should have known. So even if you don't know, actually, if you should have, the circumstances show you should have known, then that can actually start the statute of limitations. However, there is a case on point that's cited in the paperwork that talks about, you know, repressed memories and things like that. So if you don't have a memory of that event, as being alleged here, then there is case law and point that says that the statute of limitations doesn't run until that memory is, you know,

has been recalled. So that would be from 2023 when she claimed she was sexually assaulted by John Paul Miller again. Yes. And so when that happened in 2023, obviously that's, you know, with the in a couple of years. Most types of lawsuits have about a three-year statute limitations, some have two, some have six, it just depends, but generally speaking, these types of cases have about a three-year statute

limitations. So with that recent event, that's certainly, the filing is certainly within the statute of limitations. And so then the attorney was going ahead, putting it out there that yes, he recognizes the other event was at a a prior time and said that would have been the very first motion that in you know any defense attorney would have filed so he just went ahead put the brakes on that right away by citing a

case law that that's right on point for that and i appreciate you mentioning you know the in that complaint they talk about victims and jane no number one seemingly anticipating that there could be more lawsuits down the road big part big part of this case that i wasn't expecting i mean i don't think we were all we none of us were really expecting a lawsuit like this but the fact that came up so much and even included an affidavit from his ex-wife from back in 2001 where she made a series of allegations against him. Do you believe that he should be on the hook in this lawsuit and what role does all of those past allegations play in this? Yes, I absolutely think that he should be on the hook for that. You know, he basically,

Mr. John Paul Miller essentially took, you know, assumed the shoes of Reginal Wayne Miller back in the day when he was, you know, the pastor and so forth. So he actually had been convicted and, you know, of a felony, done some time. And, and also there have been many allegations of his impropriety, you know, within the church and so forth. So whenever you look at the church itself, I know I know that everyone looks at it like Mr. both of the mailers are the church. They, they're, you know, somehow it's just all them. have a tendency to someone agree with that and that's been addressed in the pleadings too but essentially if you if you take it for a moment and put in a different situation let's say that it's a whole different

church and these two pastors were um i apologize i really don't want to call either one of them a pastor but these two defendants uh were working in that same environment like a school with children and so forth and so on the the people who are in charge of whatever church or organization they would to work for would have been held accountable for bringing in these types of people who have a past history that could, you know, present some sort of potential for harm for children. And so the organization, a business, an employer, whatever, if you bring in people that may, that have a history and a tendency to harm other people, and that organization can be held accountable for that. Now I have to ask you about these 20 lawsuits that were filed by John Paul Miller

against people he claims were improperly demonstrating outside of his church. What is the status of those lawsuits? What are his main arguments that he's making? What are his main claims? Yeah, thank you. So let's get the number straight. It's actually 33 whenever you add in the two, you know, cohorts. It's also filing on his biceps.

It was a total of 33 of those. Some were for restraining orders only. Some others were for actual, like, damages in terms of, you know, stalking harassment or his allegations and that, you know, he's lost money and income and so forth on that. So the status is a lot of them started getting dismissed, you know, and then the first one that was actually, well, I shouldn't say the first one. There was one earlier that went to court, and it was granted, but those were a little bit different circumstances in that particular case.

But generally, all of the other restraining orders were filed specifically against what people refer to as protesters. I really don't like to call them protesters. I think they're demonstrators. I think there's, you know, supporters of survivors and so forth. But anyway, that's what they've been referred to. So he's filed multiple actions against them, both for one for restraining order against them to keep, keep them away from him. And the second one, some of them have been, you know, served with a general damages suit.

And do you, and his claims are what, invasion of privacy and defamation? You don't believe that those are a viable claims? Because you represent several of the defendants, right? Yes. I actually did go forward on a trial with him in the first restraining order. that was against what we called a protesting group, I guess it would be, and I won. So we got that taken care. Once that happened, it set off a chain of events after that where Mr. Miller started dropping other suits.

I had offered up, you know, hopefully to help some other people who might need my help in that situation. So he started dropping those after we had that first victory. And then one of the other plaintiffs that was filing on his behalf, he had filed four actions against four different people. And those all got dropped. So I didn't get to, I literally have a table that keeps up with all these. I'm sorry, I should have brought it in here with me. But a lot of them have been dropped. The one that I had today, Mr. Miller agreed to drop it before we ever got in the courtroom.

Why? Why did he agree to drop it? I don't think he wanted to lose a court again like he did before. Why is he losing? Why are those cases being dismissed? By the way, I believe he's representing himself, right? Was there something legally deficient in the filings? Why are they getting thrown out?

Yeah, absolutely. So they were after mine this morning. There were three more that were heard and a different lawyer handled those. And those, as I just got the word before I walked in here to meet with you, those that those were heard by the judge full courtroom witnesses everything the judge denied them all and so what he has pled in his um restraining order uh documents is first of all is like harassment in first degree harassment in the second degree and stalking okay it is a it's a form that they have at the courthouse and you're usually supposed to pick one of them well he picked all three of them

And so it's like what's one or the, it's not usually all of those, it's one or the other. But the other thing that makes it weak for him is that he selected particular dates, okay, three or four dates. The law says that you have to have a minimum of two events to report. So he would report three or four events as opposed to just to, you know, cushioning the blow there, I guess. And so the witnesses that he brought today to court on the other case, it's all been kind of the same thing. This is the reason I've won the first one is because the witnesses, when you look at them and you say,

did you see my client standing over there and can you identify? Did you know who that is? And all the witnesses were saying, I've seen the protesters. They talk about them as a group. But most of the witnesses could not say yes and point to someone and go, Yes, that's Jane Doe, or yes, that's John Doon. It was mostly testimony about the whole group, the whole support group.

What is your client's defense to, let's say you have a case that is going to go forward. He's making claims of that you're invading my privacy. They're making false statements about me. This is a form of harassment. What is the legal defense to this that you're presenting? I believe it's a First Amendment argument. It is. It's definitely a First Amendment argument as to the folks who are demonstrated.

Okay, they do have a First Amendment right. But however, you know, people hear this all the time. They go, I have a right to go out and protest. You absolutely do. But let's not forget that your rights go only so far as they can until they start interfering with someone else's rights. Okay. So to go out and protest as long as it's peaceably, peaceably done is perfectly fine. But if they start, you know, attacking individuals, you know, directly or, you know, screaming obscenities and things like that, that, that's, that's, you know, that's, you know, does become, you know, some form of harassment, I guess. But really, the basic defense, first of all, is the First Amendment right. But the second one that seems to keep working the most is that he can't make his case. He's not finding, you know, like he made a complaint that he felt harassed on a particular day. And we were able to show he wasn't even outside. He saw a video that somebody else showed him. So, you know, he just, he's all over the place. He picks random dates and people like today even testified some of his witness like i i don't remember why having that day no i can't say that person that person was there you know let me ask you this

look litigation's a headache for anybody involved there was reporting that he said i will drop all the cases if everybody agrees to stay 500 feet away from me is that something that your clients would entertain yeah absolutely so part of the thing whenever there's litigation there really is actually an obligation to try to resolve litigation, okay, before going, taking up the court's time. So there is a rule that's on point for that. So whenever, um, on that particular day, I was in another court on another case and, and wasn't there to hear him say that. So I actually called him up and said, you know, I heard that you made some kind of settlement offer in an open court. So, uh, what was it? You know, and so he went through some of those terms. And,

And I was like, you know, I have a duty if you're making an offer for settlement to take that to my client as an attorney. I can't say yes or no to you. I'm obligated to give it to my client. And of course, I needed to, you know, it always happens. People say one thing. And when it comes out in a writing, it may look like something else. So I just basically said, email me, you know, your proposal. And I'll have a look at it. And I, you know, I had put out in the world before that any of the pro se folks, defendants said if they wanted to contact my office, you know, I was trying to help them learn how to, you know, represent themselves. So the same thing with the settlement proposal. The settlement proposal as it was initially proposed was

unacceptable. And so, you know, it came. Well, for me, as the lawyer looking at it, it missed, it left out some pertinent terms. And it also was too broad. And, you know, if you have to remain two football fields away from a particular place, that's nearly impossible. I mean, we live. Our entire community is a parallel community to the ocean. So everything's in a straight line here, it seems like. Sure. So that would just, you know, that would be risking someone being, you know, held in that case, it would breach a contract because it's not a restraining order, which is critically important to the settlement, okay?

It's like, for instance, with him dropping our, my client's case this morning, we said, okay, that's great, but let's go ahead and go back and talk about this proposed settlement because there was something that was very important to my client that she wanted to get, you know, make sure that that was preserved. I don't have permission to talk about what that was exactly. But anyway, it was very important for her. So we did seize the opportunity to say, hey, let's go ahead and circle back to what, your proposal was, and I made some revisions to it that I felt were, you know, much more

reasonable and probably on point. But the key point being that my client, you know, while I like to think I would win every time, you never have those guarantees, right? So that's impossible. So what's the best interest of my client? If she's interested in it, is for me to control the outcome of the case. And the settlement proposal is the control of an outcome of the case. my client felt very satisfied and ecstatic about, you know, the result of that. And basically with regard to that settlement proposal as well, is that if Mr. Miller had won on this particular time, then there would be a legally enforceable restraining order, which is a bad sounding thing, okay?

Nobody wants to have you ever had a restraining order against you? you don't want to be able to say yes to something like that. So it was very important that that was not a risk for my client. I understand. I understand. Okay. So we'll see how those progress. And I understand there were, I think, counterclaims filed as well. Right? Is that real quick before one before I point, were there counterclaims filed by your clients? Yes. So let me let me straighten it out. There's been two types of filings by Mr. Miller. Okay. One is for restraining orders only. Those are petitions for restraining orders only based on harassment or stalking in his opinion. Okay. Then he filed a different type of lawsuits that seek damages, loss of income, et cetera, things like that. So those are pending. There are some that were, all of them have answers and counter claims. I filed answers and counter claims on behalf of my client that has one of those suits against him. And the other attorney did the same thing. Now,

These have the potential one, three of them are already going to get moved up to what we call circuit court. That's the, you know, that's the higher jurisdiction. There's no limit to the amount of damages of money that can be awarded in those cases as opposed to magistrate court, which is $7,500. So there's a possibility that my client's case may be moved up to circuit court as well. We're just waiting for a couple of things before we make that final decision. And they're counterclaims for what? What are the claims? Yes.

So my client is a, this one particular client is a little bit different. He actually was a former employee or volunteer in the church. He played in the band pretty much every Sunday. He was there every Wednesday, practicing and so forth. He and his wife both. His wife was involved in, you know, the Sunday school ministry and providing daycare and things like that for churchgoers. So they were really involved in the church, his wife for about five years, him for about three years.

And during the course of that time, they actually, you know, developed a personal relationship with Micah and Mr. Miller. And so they both confided in my client and his wife about certain aspects of their marriage. I personally think that he filed a case against my client specifically because, you know, he's concerned he may have some information, may be relevant to the FBI. Yeah, not particularly saying that, but he definitely was on the inside of that church and involved with Mr. and Mrs. Miller at that time. So the counterclaims that I filed on his behalf are the same types of things. It was defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, those types of things. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Okay, Regina, before we let you go, I have to ask you real quick about the claims of Melissa Monkari, basically saying that John Paul Miller engaged. in bribery that he was trying to evade his phone being monitored in connection with the federal investigation just real quick your insight into those claims yes i do plan on addressing that fully and on another platform but just very quickly um that i think there is a misconception there may be other lawyers who disagree with me but as far as do you know do we personally think that may have been intended to be some sort of a bribe or whatever. It may be, but I'm looking at what was provided. And quite frankly, I don't see what she's alleging. I don't see a bribe.

Okay, I don't see that. It's not uncommon, okay, for lawsuits to be pending and people try to, as I said, they're required to negotiate or tent negotiation. And I don't see that as a bribe. The other thing is, Ms. Mankari made a comment about that it was witness tampering. Well, no, it's not witness tampering unless you're actually a witness. And she is not a witness to anything that had to do with Micah or Mr. Miller, you know, when all of this stuff happened. There was one point where she may have been an important witness, but she blew that when she opened her mouth and started talking about it,

if what she said was even true to begin with. All right. Well, listen, I appreciate your person. perspective on that, are going to keep a very careful eye on all aspects of the John Paul Miller situation. Regina Ward, really appreciate you coming on. Always loved seeing you and, you know, giving some perspective about what is happening from a firsthand account. So, Regina, thank you again for taking the time to come here on Sidebar. Always my pleasure, Jesse. I was good to see you. Thank you so much. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.