Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #54 - Escaping JP Miller + Mica’s Law and the Mission to Make Coercive Control a Crime in SC

Starting point is 00:00:00 DQ presents the sound of a genius idea with the new Smarties Cookie Collision Blizzard. It's the sound of the Smarties Blizzard plus cookie dough! Hurry him for the new Smarties Cookie Collision Blizzard for a limited time at DQ. Happy tastes good. I don't know if anyone will ever be held accountable for Micah Miller's death. But I am angry after hearing more horrific details of the abuse she allegedly endured. And I am furious to learn just how hard our system made it for multiple women to escape JP. My name is Mandi Matney.

Starting point is 00:00:43 This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders Podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunar Shark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. Well, hello from Myrtle Beach. We just got back from Micah Miller's family press conference at the Horry County Courthouse, and I have a lot of emotions to sort through right now. Mostly, I'm furious. I'm furious for Micah, who we are going to start referring to as Micah Francis as much as possible, and we will explain that later in this episode.

Starting point is 00:01:43 But also, I am furious for Micah's family and for every woman who has fought the same fight with the system, working against them at every turn. I am furious that Micah's family had to stand there today in the hot blistering South Carolina sun to share Micah's story and educate the public on coercive control, in hopes that laws can be changed and that other women, like Micah, can be saved. There are no do-overs to this tragedy. They can win in civil court and maybe they can win in a state house with Micah's bill. But none of that brings their beloved Micah back.

Starting point is 00:02:23 None of it makes the pain of losing her any easier. None of it will bring them the light that Micah had on their lives. What happened to them was final. All they can do is help protect other Micahs out there in bad situations who might be experiencing coercive control and don't even realize it. All they can do is pick up the pieces that she left behind and expose those responsible for her life ending the way that it did. All they can do is finish the fight that Micah started a long time ago. The fight to escape and eventually expose JP Miller. All they can do is share the painful details

Starting point is 00:03:09 of Micah's story in hopes that the world wakes up and maybe one day passes Micah's bill. How can what happened to Micah possibly be legal? How much evidence of horrific behavior do we have to see until someone is in handcuffs? How come the punishment for stealing from Walmart is so much more clear cut and defined than the punishment is for mentally tormenting someone

Starting point is 00:03:39 to the point that they feel like death is the only option? How come coercive control, a pattern of behavior used to dominate, manipulate, and intimidate another person as Attorney Regina Ward described it today, isn't a common term in our legislation? I want to talk about torment and coercive control for a minute today. Because I'll be honest, I didn't really hear of that term much until I started listening to Laura Richards' podcast, Crime Analyst. You can hear our conversation about coercive control on Cup of Justice, episode 63.

Starting point is 00:04:20 In today's press conference, Micah Miller's family attorney, Regina Ward, told reporters about how Micah Miller's family attorney Regina Ward told reporters about how Micah's family wants to change the coercive control bill in South Carolina to Micah's bill with a few adaptations. You see, as Regina explained today, this bill could have possibly saved Micah's life by giving police officers a roadmap for what to look for in abuse cases. But unfortunately, this bill has also been collecting dust in the judiciary committee since 2020.

Starting point is 00:04:55 That doesn't surprise me at all because honestly, our legislator is wildly corrupt, mostly male, and quite frankly, this bill could be bad news for many of them. But besides that, the Coercive Control Bill probably didn't get a lot of steam because it didn't have a specific name, face, and story attached to it, showing people exactly what coercive control looks like and the tragic consequences of it. So on Wednesday, Regina Ward and Micah Miller's family presented Micah's bill to the public. They released purple packets of information to

Starting point is 00:05:33 reporters and sent them to state representatives with Micah's name, face, story, and Micah's List attached to it. Micah's List is a stomach-turning five-page document of unbelievably painful allegations that Micah made about JP and were discovered through her writings and journals. It is all hard to read. Premium members received these documents last night, please share them. Regina notes that these are allegations and that JP hasn't been charged with any crimes related to Micah, ever. But I want to go over a few of these allegations because blanketed terms like abuse and torture just don't quite move the needle and get people fighting for Micah like they should.

Starting point is 00:06:26 This list might change the game for how we look at coercive control as a society. This list is divided into two parts. The first part lists 15 coercive control behaviors alleged by Micah that are already included in the bill followed by examples. We're going to go over this list again in a more detailed way, but I want to talk about a few of these and give the examples that were written to give you all an idea of what I'm talking about. And trigger warning, this stuff is hard to hear. One item says depriving her of basic needs.

Starting point is 00:07:06 It says that JP would not let Micah sleep, he kept her up all night, and he pulled the covers off of her every time that she dozed off. It claims that she threw her clothes on the front lawn of their home. And he would allegedly and sessonly wake her up screaming to the point that she had to sleep in her car at times. Another behavior listed is expressing her worthlessness. It claims that JP told Micah that she was lazy and mentally ill, that her breasts were too small, that her family was ignorant and that she wasn't a Christian woman if she ever questioned him or didn't submit to his dark secrets.

Starting point is 00:07:46 Humiliated, degraded, and dehumanized her. It alleged that JP forced Micah to submit to humiliating sexual acts that disgusted and hurt her. The document alleges that he would tell her that she was mentally ill and have her hospitalized against her will. Another behavior on this list, threats to reveal or publish private information. The example claims that JP would make videos of Micah in private and threatened to upload them if she didn't do what he wanted.

Starting point is 00:08:19 And finally, this one, rape. According to Micah, while she was hospitalized, JP demanded that she have sex with him while she lay in a hospital bed. The document claims that JP forced her to perform sexual acts against her will and demanded that she watched him in sexual acts with others while preaching on Sunday

Starting point is 00:08:44 that it was her job as a wife to always submit. So those were some of the things on the list that the original coercive control bill included. Then there is another list that includes behavior Micah alleged that were suggested to be added to the coerciveive Control Bill. One of those is cruelty to her dog. Another one, destruction of supporting evidence. Another misuse of legal documents, misuse of law enforcement, misuse of the legal process.

Starting point is 00:09:20 But the one on this list that stuck out to me was medical abuse. It says that JP declared Micah bipolar, forced her to take lithium, a prescription of his own, monitored whether she complied with taking the pills and would forcefully give her steroid and testosterone shots in her arms, thighs, and buttocks. JP would allegedly make her swallow pills, and if he thought she didn't take them, he would cut them up and put them in her food.

Starting point is 00:09:52 Whew, I know, it's hard to hear, but we need to hear these details. It is maddening to think that in the eyes of our law right now, a lot of those things listed above don't qualify as being black and white illegal. We will talk more about Micah's Law later in this episode, and a lot more in episodes down the road, because it is important. As Regina Ward said, we have to educate people, especially lawmakers, on problems that they might be minimizing

Starting point is 00:10:26 simply because they never heard details like this to explain a problem like coercive control. This will give them the tool that they need. There needs to be education about what coercive control is. Someone who's not lived in it or been a part of it sometimes has a difficulty wrapping their mind around what this is. Coercive control is basically like a psychological warfare. It will damage the very soul of a person. It will make them doubt and lose their self-confidence and especially their self-worth. And they'll give up. They'll give up on being happy. And they'll survive and trudge through day by day. Or maybe they won't. What this family wants you to do is to help this.

Starting point is 00:11:22 We want Micah's Law. We want the coercive control bill to be looked at, taken seriously, put some time into it. Okay, before we talk about escaping J.P. Miller, we have a quick update on something we reported last week in this case. We told you about how confused we were when we asked the Horry County Register of Deeds Office for the receipt from the filing of Micah Miller's

Starting point is 00:11:48 Healthcare Power of Attorney, the one she signed in December, 2022 on the day that she was released from being hospitalized at the Waccamaw Center for Health. Micah's sister had brought her to the hospital and Micah's husband, JP, threw a fit and tried to take Micah away from there before police intervention. The healthcare power-up attorney gave JP complete control over Micah

Starting point is 00:12:14 should she become mentally incapacitated and he was so angry about Micah's family being able to successfully separate her from him so that she could get help, that he went to a lawyer in an effort to make sure that that never happened again. We also told you about how that POA didn't get filed until March of 2024, when Micah was trying to escape JP and build her life, and when she was routinely reporting him to police for harassment and waiting on a hearing for a motion for a restraining order that she had submitted against him.

Starting point is 00:12:52 Our confusion came from the fact that Micah's name and address, the address of the apartment where she moved after leaving JP, appeared on the receipt as a customer, meaning it appeared that she was the one who filed the POA, which again, made no sense whatsoever. Why would she be giving JP control over whether she lived or died

Starting point is 00:13:18 should she become mentally incapacitated? Why would she risk giving JP the opportunity to paint her as mentally incapacitated. Why would she risk giving JP the opportunity to paint her as mentally incapacitated so that the POA would take effect? Reporter Beth Braden called over to the Horry County Register of Deeds office this week to get more information about that receipt. What we can tell you for sure right now is that the Register of Deeds office does not ask for identification.

Starting point is 00:13:45 We told you a few weeks ago that anyone can file another person's POA. It doesn't have to be the person whose POA it is. This is all to say that even though it looks like Micah Miller filed that POA herself, it's also possible that someone else did. Knowing that an ID would not be required.

Starting point is 00:14:05 We are still getting more information about this and we think that it is important. If someone else filed a POA in the midst of Micah trying to escape an abusive relationship, well, obviously that raises another set of questions. And if Micah did file that herself, that clearly raises more questions. Such as, was she tricked into filing?

Starting point is 00:14:31 Did she get gaslit into doing it? Or was she threatened? We will keep you posted on what we find out there. And we will be right back. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. And we will be right back. and we are reaping the benefits left and right. Acorns makes it easy to start automatically saving and investing in your future. You don't need a lot of money or expertise to invest with Acorns. In fact, you can get started with just your spare change.

Starting point is 00:15:14 Acorns recommends an expert built portfolio that fits your money goals, then automatically invest your money for you. Head to acorns.com slash sunlight or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future today. Paid non-client endorsement. Compensation provides incentives to positively promote Acorns. Investing involves risk. Acorns advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com slash sunlight.

Starting point is 00:15:46 Y'all know I'm purposeful in my clubs and subscriptions, and First Leaf deserves to be on the keeper list. It is more than just a wine club. It's like a celebration in every delivery. As America's most personalized wine company, First Leaf takes the worry and guesswork out of buying quality wines. We just received our newest box and wow! The 2021 Padrino Vien Gracia from Tempranillo, Spain was phenomenal paired with Paella Night. I love reconnecting with friends and family over bottles of First Leaf wine and I bet you'll feel that way too. So give First Leaf a try. Head over to tryfirstleaf.com slash Mandy to sign up and save 50% on your first six curated bottles

Starting point is 00:16:30 plus free shipping. That's T-R-Y-F-I-R-S-T-L-E-A-F dot com slash Mandy to save 50% off on your first six bottles plus free shipping. Tryfirstleaf.com slash Mandy. This week has been an eventful one in the Micah Miller case, starting with the hearing that was scheduled to be held Wednesday afternoon for Micah's family's motion for temporary relief. After Micah died, her family acted quickly to step in and stop JP and his church, Solid Rock Ministries, from moving on as if nothing happened, from moving

Starting point is 00:17:13 on without consequence. They immediately filed to have Micah's sister, Sierra, appointed as a special administrator of Micah's estate. Sierra is the sister who Micah went to visit in Gaffney in November 2022 after her fight with JP. They had to call 911 twice because JP was texting them with threats, including that he was on his way to Sierra's house armed and ready to take Micah back. As part of her effort to become special administrator, Sierra and her brother Nathaniel both filed affidavits, which gave the world the first look into what Micah's marriage to JP looked like and at the fear that Micah was living in leading up to her death in April. After a judge agreed to Sierra's appointment, Sierra, on behalf of Micah, filed this motion for temporary relief. Essentially,

Starting point is 00:18:04 Sierra is handling unfinished business here and she's trying to get back Micah's possessions such as her car, cell phone, and her purse which are being held as evidence by the Robeson County Sheriff's Office and under normal circumstances would be given to JP. Sierra is not letting JP benefit from Micah's death, nor is she going to let him control the narrative. So let's talk a little bit about Micah's attempts to escape JP before she died. In October, she filed for a fault divorce. In her filing, she told the court that she wanted a divorce from JP on the grounds of adultery. She also asked for a hearing for temporary relief,

Starting point is 00:18:45 basically a hearing that would protect her financial interests during their separation. In South Carolina, a fault divorce is granted much more quickly than a no fault divorce. A no fault divorce is basically irreconcilable differences. For that kind of divorce where you don't really have to get into the more private details of your relationship, you have to first live apart from your spouse for a year. Micah clearly wanted out of her relationship with JP, but a month later asked for the hearing to be delayed because, according to the filing, she and JP were potentially going to be able to work out the details of their separation. Now, here's the thing. We're going to say, according to the filing a lot here, we know that both JP and members of his church had significant influence over Mike's thanking after she filed for divorce. It's so easy to look at the documents and say,

Starting point is 00:19:40 oh, that's because they were working things out. But we're not going to jump to that conclusion. Micah's divorce filing timeline is unusual. And we think that's a huge reflection on what she was going through personally with JP and the members of his congregation who were encouraging her to give him another chance. So while there's a filing that says the parties were working things out, we don't actually know if that was the case. We do know that Micah went to Kenya during that time and felt pressure from JP's congregants to give him another chance, but we don't know how long that chance lasted. In February, after the couple had purportedly separated again and after JP had Micah involuntarily hospitalized, they both filed to dismiss Micah's October filing for divorce. Again, to the outside eye,

Starting point is 00:20:33 that would look like they had reconciled and were going to try again, but that is not the case. Because at this very same time when Micah has agreed to dismiss the divorce filing that called out JP for his adultery, JP was filing a motion of temporary relief against Micah. Did he trick her into dismissing the original divorce? Did he pressure her to do it? In his filing, JP asked the court for exclusive use and possession of their marital home, which is interesting because as you'll hear in February 2024, JP no longer technically owned that house, but we'll get into that. He wanted the court to give him exclusive use of the Honda Accord, which was in Micah's name only, and the car that he took from Micah when she was hospitalized and the car that she called police about after she checked

Starting point is 00:21:24 herself out of the hospital two days later and realized it was gone. You'll remember that JP told the police that contrary to what Micah was telling them, they were not separated at that time. And that the car in question was marital property and in both their names. Obviously neither of those things were true at the time. In his filing, JP also asked the court for a no adverse contact order which would basically bar Micah and him from engaging in any adverse conduct against the other, whether directly or indirectly.

Starting point is 00:21:58 Which think about the gall of that. Now that we've seen all of Micah's police reports and heard from Micah's friends and family about what she was going through at the time with JP, JP was asking the court to prevent her from harming and stalking him, to prevent her from posting negative social media posts about him or anyone he was dating. It's interesting because he's basically accusing her of his own behavior. He was using the system as a weapon against her, all the while psychologically torturing her behind the scenes from what sources have told us.

Starting point is 00:22:34 I want to take a second to say this. There have been no actual accusations from JP that Micah was doing anything to him. There's one police report that we've seen where he tried to tell police that Micah's video talking about abuse was akin to harassment against him but the police were like, uh, no that's not harassment. She doesn't even mention you at all, pal. We do however have multiple instances of where Micah was reaching out for help from the police to get them to stop him from stalking and harassing her, to get them to stop him from stalking and harassing her, to get them to understand that she was fearful for her own life. But here JP is trying to get it on the record and insinuate that he was the victim in this. He got her to dismiss her first divorce

Starting point is 00:23:18 and then turned around and filed this against her. Less than a month later, he dropped his case. Then, after struggling to get money to hire a lawyer, Michael was finally able to file for this against her. Less than a month later, he dropped his case. Then after struggling to get money to hire a lawyer, Michael was finally able to file for divorce again. This time, she did not mention the adultery. And we think that's what JP was after all along. According to his first divorce, not having his adultery mentioned as grounds for divorce was important to him because once again, he did not want to lose congregants again he did not want to lose congregants, he did not want to lose receipts. In other words, he didn't want to compromise the amount of money

Starting point is 00:23:51 coming into his church every week. Okay, so obviously Micah did not get to continue with her divorce against JP. Again, this is where Ciara comes in. Wednesday's hearing was going to be to ask the court for several orders, including one for separate maintenance and support, basically to acknowledge that the couple was no longer together and to get financial protections on Micah's behalf. Micah relied on JP for his salary. She worked at the church too, but earned very little money. At the time of her death, she was working as a waitress. After they separated again on February 6 of this year, and JP immediately had Micah involuntarily hospitalized in a mental institution,

Starting point is 00:24:35 he took her car, that Honda Accord that he later asked the court to give him. What's so frustrating about this is that the car was in Micah's name, but when Micah called police after checking herself out of the hospital two days later, police believed JP's story that the car was in both of their names and therefore marital property. So in the midst of all of this, having to find and pay for an apartment and start from absolute scratch financially, along with getting enough money together to get legal help to escape JP. Micah had no car to get herself to work. JP cruelly took away a critical lifeline from her. In her filing, Sierra also asked the court to determine what assets and debts were considered marital and non-marital so that they could be split up equitably. She also asked the court to determine whether

Starting point is 00:25:29 the house Micah and JP lived in was considered marital property and to determine whether JP and his church, Solid Rock Ministries, had conspired to deprive Micah of this asset. Why? Because after Mica filed for divorce in October 2023, JP sold the house, which was in his name only, to the church for much less than the actual value of the house. We need to take a little marriage timeline break here so we can put all of this into context for you. As you know, Mah joined JP's church when she was 15 and he was 30 and married with five kids. He had one kid from a relationship he had when he was 17 years old, plus four kids from his first marriage to Allison Williams. When Micah was 18, she married a member of the church who was also JP's best friend, according to court records.

Starting point is 00:26:25 church, who was also JP's best friend, according to court records. JP was the officiant of their wedding. Then, in 2015, the congregation discovered that Micah, who worked for the church and as a babysitter for JP's kids, and JP were having an affair. That summer, Micah divorced her husband and JP separated from his wife. In divorce papers, he repeatedly listed himself as not having an address. We'll talk more about his divorce from Allison in a future episode, but as part of that, JP had to pay Allison $2,000 a month in alimony and child support. About $1,100 of that was for the mortgage of the home they owned together. The home was the biggest asset and because of what JP did, they now had to figure out what to do with it. The decision was for Allison to stay in the house and raise

Starting point is 00:27:10 their children in the home that they were used to. JP paid her enough alimony to afford the mortgage when he paid the alimony because of course that wasn't simple but we'll get to that in the future. JP had to issue a quick claim to Allison so that the house would only be in her name and the arrangement had it so that when Allison sold the house, JP and she would split the equity. The house was important to JP. Now, Micah and JP did not end up getting married until 2017 and he bought the house they lived in together in January 2016. The house though was purchased in JP's name and the name of another man, Kirk Hanna. It's not clear what Kirk's relationship to JP is. In November 2020, after he was married to Micah, JP had the

Starting point is 00:28:01 house transferred to him, not him and Micah, just him. And according to the court filing, he took out a purchase money mortgage for more than $200,000. What's a purchase money mortgage? It's a good question. It's when the seller of a property finances the sale for the borrower, meaning the loan wasn't through a bank. Then in July 2021, JP took out another mortgage against the property for $208,587, according to court records. Two mortgages? Yeah, it appears that way. Because it wasn't until December 2023, two months after Micah filed for a divorce, telling the court about JP's adultery, that he satisfied both mortgages somehow, according to the filing.

Starting point is 00:28:49 Ostensibly, JP paid for those two mortgages using marital funds. Additionally, while Micah lived in the house, the couple invested $90,000 in upgrades and improvements according to documents. Now, December 2023 is when JP sold his and Micah's house to the church. In her filing, Ciara puts the word sold in quotation marks because it's her contention that this was not a valid sale. In fact, she believes it was an attempt to defraud and deprive Micah from her fair share of the marital asset.

Starting point is 00:29:24 On May 16th, Ciara filed a list pendants against the property which essentially tags the house legally and makes it difficult for the church to do anything further with the property until this matter is settled. On Wednesday, Ciara had also planned to ask the court to restrain JP from abusing, harming, harassing, communicating, threatening or otherwise interfering with Sierra and the rest of Micah's family and friends. And she was going to ask the court to bar JP

Starting point is 00:29:51 from sharing any photos, videos, communications, including private or provocative photos, videos, and communications on social media or through any other means. She also wanted the court to prevent him from doing any of that anonymously or through a third party. Additionally, she was going to ask the court to stop JP from wasting any of the marital assets and to keep him from accruing any additional marital debt until a final order was issued.

Starting point is 00:30:15 In her filing, Ciro was also asking the court to grant Micah a posthumous name change. Micah sought to have her name restored to Micah Acacia Francis when she filed her own divorce papers. This is a big deal and even though we understand that this case is known nationally as the Micah Miller case, we're going to try to start referring to her as Micah Francis as much as possible. Micah should not have to carry around the last name of a man who did so much damage to her. So, in the Court of True Sunlight, we're restoring Micah to her pre-JP identity.

Starting point is 00:30:53 It's the very least anyone could do for her. Okay, there are three more things Sierra asked the court to do. One was to order JP to offer a financial accounting of the past three years and to appoint a financial forensic expert that JP would pay for to do a separate investigation. Two was to order JP to pay their legal fees and three was to order the same from the church. So going into Wednesday, there was a lot on the docket, but Wednesday morning, we started to hear rumblings that the hearing might not happen for a few reasons, one of which was that it seemed like the parties had come to some sort of resolution. By Wednesday afternoon, the case had been removed

Starting point is 00:31:37 from the docket altogether. Mandy and David were at the courthouse, so they were there when a press conference was held instead outside of the courthouse with Micah's attorney Regina B. Ward and Micah's family where they discussed their agreement with JP and his attorneys. According to Regina Ward, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office is now going to give Micah's family all the items they took into evidence when they found her body in April. So that's great. The car will be returned to the woman who helped Micah by co-signing a loan for her in March.

Starting point is 00:32:12 Both parties also agreed to mutual restraining orders, meaning JP is now barred from contacting them and they are barred from contacting him. Regina was careful to note that people shouldn't assume that these restraining orders meant that anyone was harassing or threatening the other party. We want to note that it was Micah's family asking for the restraining order and it's no surprise that JP would want the same thing to level the field. In addition, all parties have agreed to hold off on deciding anything about the other issues for now, including Micah's name change. Perhaps the most important part of the press conference, though, was the announcement that Regina and the Francis family are now working toward creating Micah's Law, a law that would

Starting point is 00:32:55 criminalize coercive control in South Carolina. A bill was introduced in the South Carolina House of Senate in 2020 that would have criminalized quote, the act or pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation, manipulation, and intimidation or other abuse, including emotional abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten the victim by fraudulent representations. It basically expands the idea that domestic violence is solely a physical act of abuse. But that bill failed. Regina said that had it passed in 2020, JP would have been arrested because the police would have had a law to follow.

Starting point is 00:33:40 They wouldn't have been able to just throw up their hands and act like there was nothing they could do about it, which we still think there were things law enforcement could have done to help Micah. Regina said that as part of their pursuit of a coercive control law, they want to include a misuse of the legal documents clause that would criminalize the use of the legal system for purposes of intimidation and control. This is where we should remind you about the police reports that Solid Rock appears to have filed against Micah, accusing her of stealing from them

Starting point is 00:34:10 even after it looked like a judge had declined to issue a warrant declaring that no crime had been committed. This accusation weighed on Micah. We told you a few weeks ago about how Micah had spoken with the FBI about apparent financial anomalies at the church and how she was convinced that JP and his enablers would try to pin it on her. We'll talk a lot more about coercive control laws in the future, but we'll say this for now. It's a much needed law and it's going to take a big village to help get this passed. law and it's going to take a big village to help get this passed and you know why because a coercive control law will protect women and it will really mess up bad men and we all know that our mostly male legislators across the country

Starting point is 00:34:57 really hate laws that they can picture being used against them because they know their own behavior toward women over the years hasn't been so great. Because they hate giving women any control over their own safety. We'll be right back. So this wasn't the only hearing scheduled this week for this case. On Thursday morning, a judge was expected to hear emergency arguments from JP's first wife, Allison Williams, as to why she should be granted full custody of their two minor children for now. This one is a doozy because with her emotion, Allison bravely filed an affidavit that confirms a lot about what was happening behind the scenes with JP and Micah.

Starting point is 00:35:47 Before we get into that though, here's a fun fact. The lawyer that Allison used to escape JP, Sandy Hicks, was with the same badass law firm that represented Micah in her April divorce filing and is now representing Micah's sister and family who are acting on her behalf. Allison is still repped by Sandy who has since moved on to her own law firm. This is all just to say women power and that these attorneys have likely heard it all about JP. Okay, so in her filing asking for an emergency hearing, Allison told the court that she has

Starting point is 00:36:22 a quote, voluminous amount of evidence to support the concerns and allegations in her complaint, but that quote, until such time as proper safety measures are in place, I'm strictly limiting the amount of information, which is interesting because there's actually a lot of information in this affidavit. First, she recounts what led to her divorce,

Starting point is 00:36:42 which again, we'll tell you more about in a future episode. Quote, we separated after I learned JP was having an adulterous affair with our former nanny, Micah Miller, who joined our church at the age of 15, was married to JP's best friend, who is also on our church staff, and serving as our church worship leader

Starting point is 00:37:02 at the time of their affair. JP told me that in addition to his affair with Micah, he had employed prostitutes and been sexually inappropriate with several underage female members of our church. He blamed his immoral sexual behaviors on the sexual abuse he experienced for years by his father, Wayne Miller. So there's a lot to unpack.

Starting point is 00:37:28 We told you a little about JP's father last week and the multiple allegations against him, which include soliciting sex with a male undercover police officer at a bath house in Myrtle Beach and employing foreign students at his Bible college to work for him for little to no pay. We don't know of any formal molestation accusations that have been made against Wayne

Starting point is 00:37:53 Miller, including from JP, and we are obligated to mention that he has not been charged in any child sexual abuse cases. And we also know that there's a video circulating on social media about Wayne and Pakistan and improper behavior. But those accusations have not been verified as far as we know. But back to Allison's affidavit.

Starting point is 00:38:16 After JP Miller's affair with Micah became known, the church apparently asked him to enroll in an extensive sexual addiction program, which according to Allison, he promised he would. But to her knowledge, that never happened. According to Allison, the affair tore her family and the church apart. It quote, caused an unimaginable amount of pain and discord

Starting point is 00:38:41 in the lives of so many innocent people who truly trusted and discord in the lives of so many innocent people who truly trusted and believed in JP. Now here is where it gets more interesting. We have told you about how worried JP was about the effect Micah Miller's departure would have on his church. According to sources, he was very worried that word would get out that he was cheating on Micah and that Micah would reveal even more details

Starting point is 00:39:06 about a sex life that would result in him again losing his congregation, which is what happened in 2015 after the affair was discovered. But it is not so simple to say that JP's flock scattered back then because of the affair that he had with Micah. According to Allison's affidavit,

Starting point is 00:39:25 this is what happened. The church wanted JP to step down temporarily to get treatment. The church council, relying on amended bylaws that gave them the authority to do this, ordered JP to do so. But after they voted, JP then held a meeting and informed them that the new bylaws were invalid, and according to the old bylaws, he had 100% decision-making authority. Here is what Allison wrote about that. Quote, that was the first time members of the church had an opportunity to see JP for who he really was and became gravely concerned about how his integrity and the financial structure of the church. As a result, almost our entire congregation

Starting point is 00:40:12 left the church, and JP began his quest to recruit new members and operate solid rock ministries solely at his discretion. So that brings us to the now, right? This puts the now in better perspective. JP wasn't just scared of what a divorce from Micah might do to the number of church members. This was a different church altogether from when Allison belonged to it. This was a church that JP had built in JP's likeness, a church that recognized JP's authority in a much less distilled way than the previous church. If JP were to lose those members,

Starting point is 00:40:57 the people he had curated for his church, then what would he have left? JP is this church, and this church is JP. Now back in 2015, when Allison learned about JP's inappropriate behavior with minor female members of the church, and I'm saying inappropriate behavior here not to gloss over the details but simply because we don't know them, Allison says she went to the girls and asked them to come forward. The girls told her what happened but said they were too scared of JP to tell police and testify in court according to the affidavit. Quote, when I learned they were too fearful to

Starting point is 00:41:36 report JP, I went to the police department for the purpose of making a report and requesting an investigation. However, I was in essence told by police officials that nobody would believe me because JP was a well-known pastor and we were in the middle of a divorce. So that's terrific, right? The police apparently weren't even receptive to hearing about the potential and apparently unreported abuse happening at an area church. I know your next question is going to be like, what about the church elders? Weren't they required to report this abuse after JP told them about it? Uh, yeah, but we have not seen any evidence thus far that they did so. Here's what Allison says happened next. Quote, I began to realize the power JP seemed to have

Starting point is 00:42:20 over leaders and officials in our community. And based upon having limited power, there was no way for me to ensure JP was held accountable and prevented from continuing to victimize innocent people. Given the circumstances, I decided the best way for me to protect our children was to reach an agreement with JP that contained terms I believed would ensure their safety and encourage him to seek treatment. To that end, JP had periodic periods of visitation with our children. However, we agreed JP's visitation with our daughter, who is a subject to this action, would be restricted to solely daytime periods of visitation. So according to this, JP hasn't been allowed to have his now teenage daughter for overnight visits because of his history with teenage girls.

Starting point is 00:43:10 Allison's affidavit also gives us insight into her relationship with Micah, who had been very close to the Miller family prior to the affair. Allison says she taught Micah to drive and took her to get her driver's license and that Micah shared many mealtimes with the family. Allison says that she provided Micah with guidance and advice and that Micah started working for the church around that same time. In her affidavit, Allison writes, despite the initial destruction caused by JP's infidelity, for several years there was a part of me that was relieved to know Micah would be present in the home when JP had periods of visitation

Starting point is 00:43:45 with our children, and I viewed her as a safety net for my children." So having Micah there was a big deal for Allison, despite and because of the history of their relationship. For a while, things weren't so tumultuous, she says, but then things changed in 2021 and 2022. Things changed to the detriment of her children, she said, escalating to the, quote, severity of where things are today. Allison says her children were placed

Starting point is 00:44:19 in the middle of JP's marital problems with Micah. Quote, JP would preach sermons on Sundays. Our children were with him and present in the congregation, disparaging Micah and indicating she had mental health issues and eventually putting her in a mental hospital. The children were subjected to JP calling Micah crazy one day

Starting point is 00:44:40 and then her being back in the home at their next visit with their father, assuring them she was fine. They never knew what to expect. And the intense unpredictability in marital discord between JP and Micah negatively impacted them all. On one occasion while picking up our daughter, I observed holes in their walls, hinges off the doors, and pieces of paper taped to the walls with negative affirmations about Micah. JP told me and our children that Micah was delusional

Starting point is 00:45:13 and speaking different languages and seeing things that were not there. Okay, obviously we don't know for sure about reading between the lines. It seems like Alison is saying that the environment was bad, not because of Micah's mental health, but because of what JP was saying about Micah's mental

Starting point is 00:45:30 health. Notice how she doesn't say her children witnessed any of this supposed behavior. But can you imagine telling children these things about their stepmother and then expecting them not to have worries or questions about it? Sources tell us that Micah really cared for her stepchildren and the two younger ones in particular really cared about her. This is scary stuff for kids to have to contend with.

Starting point is 00:45:54 Okay, so then Alison's affidavit gets even more interesting. Quote, JP began spending time with his new paramour, Susie. Yes, Alison went there. Now, those of you who have been following the story really closely on social media might recognize the name Susie. JP was pictured with Susie shortly after Micah's death reportedly, having an apparently good time at a local restaurant. In addition, Robeson County Sheriff's Office put in their press release about Micah's death that at the time of Micah's death, JP was with a romantic interest in Charleston. And there are a lot of rumors about JP and Susie and Susie's deceased husband. Let's hear what Allison has to say about JP and Susie, whose son played soccer with JP and Alice's son.

Starting point is 00:46:49 Quote, JP began using our son to facilitate times he could spend with Susie, which our children were well aware of. Their friends talked about it, and it caused them a tremendous amount of embarrassment. When I learned JP was exposing our children to yet another one of his adulterous affairs, I confronted JP and Susie and told them not to let it happen again.

Starting point is 00:47:10 JP called me the day Susie's husband died in an alleged drowning accident, extremely upset and asking me to pray, which was incredibly bizarre. Based on information and belief, just two weeks prior to this incident, Suzy's husband had confronted JP and asked him to leave his wife and children alone. It is chilling to know that the spouses of both Suzy and JP are now dead from tragic offence. End quote, whoa, right? So Susie's husband was 40 year old Chris Skinner. He was in a car crash involving a drunk driver at age 20

Starting point is 00:47:52 and was paralyzed from the chest down according to news reports. He was a motivational speaker and had written books and he was an adaptive surfer, meaning even though he was quadriplegic, he enjoyed surfing and the water, meaning he was comfortable adaptive surfer, meaning even though he was quadriplegic, he enjoyed surfing and the water, meaning he was comfortable around the water. In September, 2021, he was found unresponsive

Starting point is 00:48:13 in his neighborhood pool. He drowned to death. His death was ruled accidental. On social media, people have insinuated that there's more to Chris's death and that it needed to be investigated back then and needs to be re-investigated today. Allison Williams, JP's former wife, has now put it on the record that she also believes something strange was afoot here. She says that it was around the time of Chris's death that JP's mental health began, quote, really spiraling out of control and he began acting

Starting point is 00:48:46 even more bizarre. Quote, he informed me that he was getting into buying guns and shooting and he had purchased a gun safe for his home. As a convicted felon, he is not allowed to have weapons, however, he managed to get a police chief from the church to assist with expunging his record. However, he managed to get a police chief from the church to assist with expunging his record. Further, he was given a special police badge that says Pastor to utilize if he ever gets pulled over so they will let him go. A badge, you guys? Sound familiar?

Starting point is 00:49:19 Remember when we all found out that Elick Murdoch had been carrying around not just one, but two badges from the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office and driving around with blue lights on his truck for no good reason. Good old boys never grow up. And it's always surprising to find out just how much the system enables them with these pseudo-VIP experiences on the taxpayer dime. According to the Public Index, JP has a long history of traffic infractions. In addition, one of the charges he had pardoned in 2022 was for getting caught driving under suspension for the third time. Speaking of that pardon, JP Miller was pardoned for driving under suspension and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Shortly after Chris' death in 2021 and after 22 years of being a convicted felon, JP sought this pardon so that he could have his

Starting point is 00:50:14 rights restored. His rights being the right to vote, which he did not mention on his application, and his right to legally own firearms, which he definitely alludes to on his application. We now have audio from JP's pardon hearing, and to be clear, his charges were never expunged according to the public index. That is a separate process that wholly eliminates the charges from his record. We will get into all of that in a later episode because as we show Joel and Murdock, time and time again, it is important to take a closer look at every single time that the system gave men

Starting point is 00:50:55 like JP Miller a green light and told him that he could get away with a little bit more if he just asked. Okay, back to Allison's affidavit and JP's purported new interest in firearms. She writes, with the constant discord between JP and Micah and JP's own self-reported mental health struggles, the thought of JP having access to guns in his house

Starting point is 00:51:22 terrified me for the safety of our children. According to Alison, right as she was considering legal action to amend their custody arrangement, JP told her that he wasn't mentally well enough to share time with their children. Having it be JP's idea made it far easier and safer, she wrote. Notice her use of the word safe throughout this entire affidavit. It's super important. All Micah wanted was to be safe. All Allison wants for herself and her children is to be safe. And both women simply just wanted JP to get better, to be better,

Starting point is 00:51:57 but they couldn't be safe within the confines of his world. Around the time of Chris Skinner's death and after JP's bizarre behavior began to emerge, Allison said that Micah began calling her. Micah wanted advice on how to leave JP, she said. For the rest of this episode, I want you to keep elements from Micah's list that Mandy shared with you at the beginning of the episode at the top of your mind. According to the affidavit, Micah turned to Allison. The two women prayed together and Micah told Allison more about what was going on

Starting point is 00:52:29 with JP, about what Allison's children were being exposed to when they were at their house. Micah warned Allison that her children were in danger in his care. And now that Micah is dead, Allison is even more worried because the one safety net she felt she had with JP, that Micah was there and that Micah cared is gone. Quote, I was married to JP for 16 years. Although my story and what I lived through with JP is different in some ways, many of the details shared with me by Micah are so similar to my own experiences with JP that

Starting point is 00:53:04 I know she was being truthful. Based upon information and belief, JP's mental health and deviant sexual addictions have only worsened since the time we were married. After Micah died, Allison said she initially allowed her kids to speak with JP over the phone and through text messages, but she recently found out that he had been talking to their kids about the chaos of his life right now. She said he shared plans with the kids of suing everyone and being a millionaire. You'll remember that after this story broke in early May, JP issued a statement through

Starting point is 00:53:42 an attorney threatening media and ordinary citizens on TikTok and other social media, telling them that he was cataloging every post for future legal action. So in this affidavit, Allison said that she hasn't made any statements publicly about JP because her kids have been negatively affected by all of the media surrounding this case. She notes that JP has been threatened and followed on social media by people around the world and that JP has a history of expressing suicidal ideation. She rightly points out that this is just not a good environment for the kids to be in right

Starting point is 00:54:20 now. That all this combined with his emotional instability would put them in imminent danger. On Thursday morning, Allison will be asking the court to suspend all contact between JP and her children, pending JP undergoing a full psychological examination and a parental fitness examination and then following whatever recommendations come from that. She is also asking the court to appoint a guardian ad litem to conduct an expedited investigation into the matter. Now, Allison came to the table with serious receipts, even though she says she is holding

Starting point is 00:54:57 back until she gets reassurance from the court that she and her kids will be safe. Included in the receipts are videos of her kids fighting against visitation with their father, a video of JP admitting to suicidal thoughts, mental health issues and his use of lithium, a voicemail from Micah seeking guidance and evidencing severe emotional turmoil with JP, social media posts regarding admissions from JP related to instability and mental health issues as well as screenshots from text messages. Those text messages include one incredibly disturbing one where JP purportedly used his

Starting point is 00:55:37 young daughter's cell phone to text Micah while pretending to be his daughter. We don't know the exact date of this text message, but Micah references that she is 30 and JP mentions that it's her birthday. Micah turned 30 in March, so this was after JP appears to have pressured her to drop the divorce only to file one of his own and after JP had Micah hospitalized involuntarily

Starting point is 00:56:02 after he took her car. I will read some of the texts between JP's daughter's phone and Micah hospitalized involuntarily after he took her car. I will read some of the texts between JP's daughter's phone and Micah. I posted the rest on my Instagram account. A text from JP's daughter's phone says that mom says boys are dumb, but I know dad loves you a lot. I've never seen him cry so much.

Starting point is 00:56:21 If he asks you, we talk about lashes. I have to delete this." Then Micah texted back, I understand. JP's daughter's phone texted Micah, I am praying too, without dad, that you will come home. He is crying so loud right now. Can you talk to him please? I promise he loves you. He has your pictures all over the house. He won't do anything with us. He just keeps crying." Then Micah texted him. "'Last time I tried to come home and be peaceful,

Starting point is 00:56:51 he called the cops and said I was trying to break in after he was the one who asked me to come. My hands are tied. He would not even let me in.'" JP's daughter's phone texted back. "'Can I ask him? He has done dumb things, but all he does is ask God to bring you home.

Starting point is 00:57:09 He doesn't even get out of bed. He just cries. I really liked you with my dad. Micah texted back. I know it is really hard to stay away, but he has already filed the paperwork. I didn't even file anything. He is leaving me and trying to make it seem like I left him.

Starting point is 00:57:27 I don't think it's healthy for you to get involved because it is a lot for anyone to process. Keep praying. And if you have any questions, tell your mom and I will talk to her. I feel like I need to give you guys a second to catch your breath after that, because this isn't just absolutely unhinged behavior from JP, it's heartbreaking. Not only did JP deceive Micah in these texts and put his daughter or her cell phone anyway in the middle of this drama, he was horribly manipulative. We can only imagine how Micah must have felt receiving those texts believing that her stepdaughter

Starting point is 00:58:06 was urging her to come home. In addition, we get so much insight from those texts into what a good human being Micah was. The texts ended with her telling her fake stepdaughter that it wasn't good for her to be involving herself in this and then directing her fake stepdaughter to talk to her mom. involving herself in this and then directing her fake stepdaughter to talk to her mom. After this, it appears that Micah screenshot the texts and sent them to Allison so that Allison would know how her young daughter was being affected by what Micah believed was the truth about her father's emotional breakdown. And more than all of this, we get to see the reality of the situation. This is psychological torture, plain and simple. The fake texting, the filing paperwork to leave Michael while

Starting point is 00:58:50 telling people that Michael was trying to leave him and that he was the victim, asking Michael to come home only to call police on her and claim she was trying to break in. Every week we see more and more of the emotional warfare that Michael is being forced to contend with. Let's talk about what we did not see in that text exchange, by the way. We didn't see drama from Micah. She didn't contact her stepdaughter to talk about JP. She didn't put down JP. She simply stated facts and respected her fake stepdaughter's feelings while also gently redirecting her to her mother.

Starting point is 00:59:26 Every glimpse we've gotten into Micah so far shows no evidence of her harassing or stalking JP. She was just trying to escape him. And Micah died doing just that, trying to escape him. The most dangerous time in an abused woman's life is the time that she is trying to leave. We have said this over and over and over again. At the press conference Wednesday, several women in Justice for Micah t-shirts tearfully spoke about how Micah's case hit so close to home for them.

Starting point is 01:00:05 Micah's story has grabbed headlines around the world in the last month for that very reason. Because too many women know a Micah or knew a Micah, and they know just how hard the escape is. As Micah's team and the FBI continue to investigate, it is important to focus on what we know happened and prevent it from happening to other people. I applaud Micah's family for leading that effort when they shouldn't have to. Here is attorney Regina Ward. It's not just about Micah. So no one's being forgotten.

Starting point is 01:00:50 It's all about victims. We're just asking for it to be called Micah's Law because so many people have paid attention to this situation. All eyes are on it, and people are paying attention. And we really want people to become educated. We want our police to be educated. They're not trained in it because it doesn't exist in law. They're trained to look for the things they know

Starting point is 01:01:15 and law that are a crime, okay? So when we say hold the police accountable, as I stated before, when they arrive on the scene and, you know, a spouse is saying, she took my wallet and won't give it back and has my keys and won't let me leave the house, then the officer is gonna diffuse the situation, okay?

Starting point is 01:01:36 And it's a domestic situation. People get in fights, you know, and fuss. I mean, it's part of being married too. Doesn't mean it's all abusive, but sometimes it gets, you know, to a place where someone calls the police because they want something to happen. And so the police will look at it and say, well, I don't see any bruises on you, sir. Don't see anything like that. Did she hurt you?

Starting point is 01:01:58 You know, that sort of thing. So if it's not a physical abuse thing, or a physical manifestation of the abuse, the police just don't have anything to look to. So with this bill being made into law, of course I would imagine that there would be some form of training because it would be a new law that they would have to be familiar with

Starting point is 01:02:19 and learn how to identify the elements that are associated with it. As we always say, sunlight helps. We've already got the message out and Micah's life is going to matter regardless of whatever the reason was of what happened to her. Her life is going to leave a legacy and her life is going to help people. That's where we need to focus now. We need to focus on that because the other things

Starting point is 01:02:45 that happened or may happen, we can't undo those. We can't undo those things that happened, allegedly happened to Micah. But what we can do is going forward and being supportive that hopefully there won't be any other victims that got to this level. You know, that's where we need to focus now. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

Starting point is 01:03:32 True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production created by me, Mandy Matney, and co-hosted by journalist Liz Farrell. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky. The justice system can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. We all want a drink from the same cup of justice, and it starts with learning about our legal system. My name is Mandi Matney, and together with journalist Liz Farrell and world-renowned attorney Eric Bland, we create the perfect trifecta of legal expertise, journalistic

Starting point is 01:04:04 integrity and a fire lit to expose the truth wherever it leads. We all encounter a part of our justice systems at one point, so why not get prepared while being entertained with tales from the newsroom and the courtroom? Cup of Justice has amazing special guests like Sheryl Crow, Vinnie Politan, Emily D. Baker, and other experts to share their take on the bright side of the truth. Lunashark Media invites you to gain knowledge, insight, and tools to hold your own or hold public agencies

Starting point is 01:04:36 accountable. Search for Cup of Justice wherever you get your podcast or visit cupofjusticepod.com

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #54 - Escaping JP Miller + Mica’s Law and the Mission to Make Coercive Control a Crime in SC

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.