Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #74 - JP Miller’s Mystery Apology and His Big Night in Jail + the Latest in the Christa Bauer Gilley Case

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

After investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell wrapped up last week’s episode — in which Mandy wondered when we’d ever see Myrtle Beach pastor JP Miller in handcuffs — they got their wish. JP spent one glorious night in jail after a physical confrontation between him and a female protester. And the drama didn’t end there...  On today’s episode we look at what went down between JP and the protester as well as everything that was revealed in a May 2 recording of JP talking to his business partners about Mica Francis’ death days earlier. Also we look at what Mica’s medical records tell us about the three years after her alleged first suicide attempt.  Plus, updates in the Christa Bauer Gilley case in Houston Heights, Texas, including the quest for Lee Gilley’s jailhouse phone calls and a look at his newest attorney …. whose name is Dick. But not that Dick! Star criminal defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who defended the likes of David Koresh and Robert Durst, has joined Lee’s defense team, in what’s turning out to be another example of a wealthy man trying to buy his way out of accountability.  Episode Resources TikTok video of JP Miller’s altercation “Myrtle Beach pastor linked to Mica Miller case out on bond after assault arrest” - WMBF News JP Miller’s Nov 6, 2024 Arrest Warrant “The Crocodile Rocks Tapes” YouTube Video by Robbie Harvey Mica Francis TSP & COJ Playlist Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Join Luna Shark Premium today at Lunashark.Supercast.com. Premium Members also get access to searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. What We're Buying... Hungry Root - https://hungryroot.com/mandy to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.. Hungry Root is the easiest way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. Task Rabbit - Use promo code "mandy" at https://www.taskrabbit.com/ for 15% off your task. Task Rabbit connects you with skilled Taskers to help with cleaning, moving, furniture assembly, home repairs, and more. Peloton - onepeloton.com Find your push. Find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.com. Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn And a special thank you to our other amazing sponsors: Microdose.com, PELOTON, and VUORI. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email [e-mail] and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, EB here, your faithful Cup of Justice co-host. I am so excited to tell you about my new book, Anything But Bland. In this memoir, I share stories about my childhood, marked by bullying, my father's job loss, and the indomitable spirit that propelled me into the law and ultimately international recognition during the Alex Murdahl murder trial. I believe in certain life principles that have helped me and helped others achieve success. From the power of organization and a sense of urgency to the importance of truth, leadership and resilience. With vivid recollection from challenges and

triumphs framing each chapter, success isn't about luck. It's earned through skill and hard work. Please visit TheErikBland.com to learn more about the book, Anything But Bland, is the manifesto for those seeking triumph over adversity and a guide for anyone aspiring to reach their full potential. I don't know if or when we will ever see J.P. Miller in federal custody, but after the last two weeks, it feels like the tables have finally turned and justice will be coming sooner rather than later. My name is Mandi Matney.

This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders Podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. Before we dive into this week's episode, I want to say thank you to Cheryl S, Pam S, Heidi E, Laurel K, Michelle G, and Christine B for joining our Lunashark Premium membership community. Your support means the world to us and allows us to do the deep dives necessary to cover these cases and hold agencies accountable to make them do their jobs.

And for all you folks out there, stay tuned for details on a new feature coming to Lunashark Premium where each month we are going to read, watch, or listen, then discuss a book, documentary, podcast, or show from one of our amazing guests or on a topic covered on our shows. Read and watch along with us and join Lunashark Premium to gather and discuss. Stay tuned for details this December. Okay, so let's talk about the best thing that happened in the past week. Seeing JP Miller in handcuffs.

Not to brag or anything, but we started the last episode of this podcast with the words I don't know if or when we will see J.P. Miller in handcuffs. And just like that, the next morning after recording that, I woke up to my husband David saying the words, Good morning, Sweet Pea. JP Miller got arrested. I thought he was kidding. So I rolled over to go back to sleep.

Oh really? Look at his mugshot. David handed me his phone that showed the jail log and there it was. A mugshot of old JP Miller, wearing what appeared to be his jammies, with a face that said he just entered his find-out era. I sprung out of bed like it was Christmas morning. Now, as I expected, it wasn't for a big charge. And this is unrelated to the FBI raid that happened two weeks ago, so let's call this

the prequel. As we were recording on Wednesday, we saw Buzz on TikTok showing multiple angles of JP getting into an altercation with a protester in the parking lot across the street from Solid Rock. Church members and JP were cleaning out the building, where they've been since 2013, last Wednesday afternoon. cleaning out the building where they've been since 2013, last Wednesday afternoon. Now, JP's girly True Crime Re! posted videos trying to prove that the justice for Micah protesters had started the altercation in the parking lot by taunting him. But let's be real here.

JP hasn't stopped taunting and tormenting Micah and every woman who relates to her since her death in April. J.P. Miller chose to write his narrative of Micah's story and got really surprised when people were like, no, that's not it at all. He didn't allow those who really love her to write her obituary and tell her story. He wrote his childish and crooked version. He hurled insults at her family and her friends for months through his interviews and has now deleted TikTok series.

Through his doofus attorney, Russell B. Long, JP Miller even threatened legal action to try to scare Micah's best friend from telling Micah's story. Through his own actions and his own words, JPMiller showed the world exactly who he is, and that is a man who has gotten used to getting away with anything he gets into. J.P. Miller has vocally resisted anyone questioning the circumstances surrounding his wife's suspicious death. And J.P. Miller hasn't even really tried to pretend that he loved Micah at all. He hasn't shown us any actions that tell us that he wants justice for Micah. He has shown us again and again that JP is only concerned with JP and JP's bottom line.

He taunted all of us when he showed up to church Sunday after Sunday alongside his alleged girlfriend, who he allegedly cheated on Micah with, and he refused to step down from the church that Micah helped him build. I am not condoning violence or harassment right now, but if you have a history like JP's, you deserve to be in places surrounded by people who are disgusted by your actions. And since the justice system appears to be taking

its sweet time coming around, as it usually does with good old boys, I don't blame women at all for being verbally hostile toward JP. But again, let me be clear, I really don't recommend it because I think this man is dangerous and on the verge. So the one clear angle that I saw of the incident shows JP charging at the protestor in the

parking lot across the street from his church. It then shows them exchanging words and it shows him exerting dominance by invading her space then hitting her hat. The female protestor is shown in other videos yelling back at JP and following him as he walked away through the parking lot. Now we saw these videos as we were finishing up last week's episode, but we brushed it to the side, thinking that Myrtle Beach's history

of showing so much grace for JP Miller would continue. But something must have changed at the Myrtle Beach Police Department because around 11 p.m. Miller would continue. But something must have changed at the Myrtle Beach Police Department. Because around 11 p.m. Wednesday night, J.P. Miller was arrested by Myrtle Beach Police for third degree assault and booked at the jail for the night. Now, this is pretty typical for defendants

who do not have lawyers like Mr. Russell B. Wrong protecting them. I've seen less privileged defendants who do not have lawyers like Mr. Russell B. Wrong protecting them. I've seen less privileged defendants get booked in jail for very minor offenses, like walking on a highway, yep, that's a real charge, check fraud, which basically means they're check bounced, and driving on a suspended license. Police also can choose not to arrest people for petty crimes,

and they can simply give them a ticket and a court date, by the way. But a lot of times, with men like JP who have lawyers, police will work with lawyers to book defendants in jail right before their bond hearing so that they can skip the whole night in jail thing. But not this time. JP was booked for the whole evening before he was released on a $776 bond and he is due back in court on December 10th. The next

day Myrtle Beach police released the arrest warrant, which I will have David read. On November 6th, 2024, officers with the Myrtle Beach Police Department responded to the area of 743 Hemlock Avenue, a location in the city limits of Myrtle Beach in reference to a possible assault. During the course of protesting the location, the victim crossed the street to approach the defendant. The victim stated, here kitty kitty, to the defendant. The defendant turned around and approached the victim. The defendant got into the victim's face and put his phone up as if he was recording her.

During this action, the defendant is said to have tapped the brim of the victim's baseball cap. The defendant then turns around, walks away from the victim's baseball cap. The defendant then turns around, walks away from the victim. Video of the incident does not appear to show the assault, although directly after the possible assault, the victim can be heard yelling on video, don't touch me. A witness stated that she observed the defendant

hit the victim's hat twice. Now, a lot of y'all have mixed reactions to this charge. Many of you pointed out that with the way that it is written, he will likely get it dropped. South Carolina law states that, quote, a person commits the offense of assault and battery in the third degree if the person unlawfully injures another person

or offers or attempts to injure another person with the present ability to do so. So this law has some wiggle room with the words offers and attempts to injure. And those words could apply here depending on what the victim says and if she continues to pursue the charges. It also should be noted that third degree assault

is often used as a plea down charge for domestic abusers. It is an easy out for those charged with DV because it's a misdemeanor and it means abusers can keep their guns, which is another problem for another day. So JP's doofus attorney, Russell B. Long, of course, had words for the media and the protesters after JP was released from jail.

WBTW News 13 reported that Russell B. Long called the protesters, get this, stalkers and he quote begged the city authorities to help Miller but no action has been taken against the harassment. He called it harassment. Guys that's not even the worst of it. He kept going. Quote, somebody's got to help John Paul Miller and the members of the church stop these people from harassing and stalking him the way that they do, Long said, according to News 13. He then said, quote, the bigger story is not the assault charge. He said, quote, this is simple and easily handleable, and I am willing to wager it'll

be found not guilty or dismissed eventually. The bigger problem here is the group of people won't leave him alone. They will not. Whew. The absolute audacity of this man. This man whose client has been accused of stalking, harassing, and abusing his estranged wife for years leading up to her death. And he is actually trying to convince us that JP Miller is the victim here? Gee, it really would have been great if Myrtle Beach Police and Horry County Police had taken Micah's reports of JP's alleged stalking and harassment seriously, and had taken action in

real time when it was happening right there in front of them. Maybe if they had done that, Micah would still be alive today. Maybe if Myrtle Beach Police had taken action, like actually opened an investigation to look at the bigger picture here, to look at the three times Micah reported having trackers on her car that she believed to have been put there by JP. Instead of dismissing Micah by claiming it was likely marital property and as such there would be nothing they could do about it, even though she was separated from JP at the time, which one would think and one would hope would be a big red flag to law enforcement who were there to investigate claims of stalking and harassment from a person who if they had just searched their system, they would have seen that he

had a history of this with his ex-wife. Maybe Micah would still be alive if someone would have taken action when she applied for that restraining order against JP and told the court that her estranged husband had been harassing her to the point where she had to change her phone number multiple times. And then every time she changed that number, he'd find her again and Micah would feel trapped and defeated. Like the time she was at an oyster roast with her family and JP allegedly texted her at her new number and said, enjoy the oysters, just to let her know he was watching and that he still had power over her. I'm no attorney, but that sounds like examples of criminal stalking and harassment that police should have taken more seriously, right?

Especially when they of all people know this behavior tends to escalate and with each new incident reported, it means a woman's life is in increasing danger. Those Myrtle Beach and Horry County police officers have to live with the fact that time and time again, they told Micah through their actions or their lack of actions that she was not worth their efforts. And then they told JP through their actions that he would always have the upper hand with the law. Micah's account of reality was automatically deemed dubious and JP's account of reality was seen as true history. Those officers make arrests for charges that never end up sticking all of the time. So they could have done it. They could have arrested

him. They chose not to. I keep wondering about the butterfly effect that would have occurred if just once or a county or Myrtle Beach Police had taken Micah's words seriously if they had thoroughly investigated JP and maybe even charged him with harassment or stalking, or charged him the time that he lied in a police report with allegations that Micah was stealing from the church. Just one night in jail for JP for any of those instances might have changed the game and given Micah the encouragement to keep fighting. Just a little ounce of hope from someone in authority taking Micah's allegations

seriously could have saved her. This is the context surrounding this assault that we need to think about. The police department that finally arrested JP for a minor assault charge is the same police department that bears responsibility for Micah's hopelessness because they refused to take action on her behalf. Now that there's an FBI investigation and people are likely combing through all these reports that make their department look like JP's army, maybe they finally decided they were tired of this pastor douche, making them look like worthless fools. Maybe they decided to treat JP like they do so many of their defendants by actually charging him, throwing him in jail for the night, and letting

the court work out the details. And one more thing, Russell, be wrong. Myrtle Beach and Ory County taxpayers have all but paid for what we think looks like private security for JP Miller for the past six months. They've provided officers at Solid Rocks Sunday after Sunday. They've responded to JP's many phone calls to police with exaggerated and unfounded claims, which is great for JP because if we've learned anything about him, it's that he likes a paper trail. Over the past year, JP himself has called police at least seven times and his right-hand woman,

Trisha Ross has called at least three times. And I'm not even including any anonymous 911 calls that we suspect are connected to them. And it doesn't include the peripheral calls that were made by people like Susie Skinner or Susie's co-worker or the call to the little Tokyo restaurant where JP happened to be eating with Susie Skinner. And it doesn't include the long list of calls that Solid Rock has made over the years with mostly petty concerns.

So Russell be wrong. This is what happens when law enforcement heavily favors one man for so long. You cannot ask law enforcement to only take some claims of harassment and stalking seriously and completely ignore so many others. What's fair is fair, Mr. Wrong. Maybe your client will start to finally realize that. Something else I want to talk about today quickly, the Crocodile Rocks tape from May 2nd that was recently obtained by YouTuber Robbie Harvey.

It appears that at the time of Micah's death, JP Miller was a part owner of Crocodile Rocks piano bar in Myrtle Beach. In May, Micah's sister accused JP of transferring the shares of the bar to his son before Micah's death, but we've never gotten clarity on that. That document was filed on May 2nd, the same day as this Crocodile Rocks recording.

And it could have triggered JP to speak at this meeting in an attempt to control the narrative and appear like the sudden spotlight on Crocodile Rocks was not his fault. Now, in this recording, JP is telling the staff at Crocodile Rocks his version of events as to what led to Micah's death. This is May 2nd, five days after Micah's death and two days after JP told his congregation at Solid Rock that his 30-year-old wife had just died in a bizarre announcement that quickly took the internet by storm. This is before

Robeson County publicly declared Micah's death as a suicide and before they publicly revealed any details of Micah's movements on the day of April 27th. May 2nd is also the day that Sierra Francis, Micah's sister, filed her bombshell probate documents in court accusing JP of abusing Micah throughout their marriage. The file outlined a trail of breadcrumbs for reporters like us to follow that would reveal shocking police reports, 911 calls, and medical records that painted a picture of J.P. Miller that he did not want the world to see.

So this recording obtained by Robbie Harvey, which you can find the link to it in the description of the episode, it gave us an inside look as to how JP wanted to shape the narrative in the week after his estranged wife's death. JP's 10 minute soliloquy was 100% on-brand and not shocking at all. He over-explains situations that do not need explaining at that point at all, as if he's laying at a story that would be believable and preemptively address any red flags, he recites very strange details surrounding Micah's death as if he is telling the police his alibi. And more on that recording after a short break. We will be

right back. Let's take a pause so I can tell you about this amazing sponsor. Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolic coach. It's a device that measures your metabolism through your breath. We love that Lumen is helping us be more consistent in achieving our goals. And the app is such an effective companion. On the app, it lets you know if you are burning fats or carbs and gives you tailored guidance to improve your nutrition,

workouts, sleep, and even stress management. All you have to do is breathe into your Lumen first thing in the morning and you'll know what's going on with your metabolism. Then Lumen gives you a personalized nutrition plan for that day based on your measurements. So if you want to stay on track with your health this holiday season go to lumen.me slash sunlight to get 15% off your Lumen. That is L-U-M-E-N.me slash sunlight for 15% off your purchase. Lumen makes a great gift too. Thank you Lumen for sponsoring this episode. In the Crocodile Rocks recording obtained by YouTuber Robbie Harvey, JP revealed some key details from the investigation that were not available to the public yet.

Some people online thought that this showed that JP knew details that he shouldn't have known unless he was involved. But it doesn't show that, because it is common for police to share details of investigations with people who they believe are the victim's family members. This gets confusing when there are men like JP Miller who are technically family on paper, but just a little bit of research would have put them in the not-to-be-trusted category. By the way, I hope Robeson County learns from that. I know so many of y'all hate hearing JP Miller's voice, so we are going to summarize the biggest

takeaways from this recording. First, my biggest takeaway is the way that he lied about some of the most important details in Micah's story that we have fact-checked in the last six months. J.P. Miller said that the court deemed Micah mentally ill, which is a lie. The court actually ruled in Micah's favor. He said that Micah emailed the Secretary of State in an attempt to get a gun. We've voyaged for all emails involving Micah Miller to the Secretary of State, and she never asked

for help to get a gun. She emailed them, get this, to report that JP had stolen her notary and in that email she expressed concerns that he would use it. She said that the church is also trying to make some large purchases that I believe to be illegitimate and that would require a notarization. And his entire description of their relationship in this recording was a lie because he left out some of the most important details like the fact that she served him divorce papers

just days before she was found dead. Why would JP not mention that? He also claimed that he took Micah's CWP away, AKA concealed weapons permit, before her death because he was scared that she would buy a gun. But that doesn't make sense because in March, South Carolina law changed so that CWPs were not required. And Micah's medical history should have been enough to prevent her from being able to buy a gun, or at least slow the process down.

And then he lied again when he told the Crocodile Rocks staff that Micah's doctor declared her homicidal and suicidal in February. That's a lie because it wasn't a doctor. It wasn't even a licensed psychologist. It was someone who worked at the mental health hospital who appears to have recommended Micah's hospitalization based on JP's word, based on the behavior that he was telling her about.

Another big takeaway is the way that he admitted to putting a tracker on her car, but said it was to prevent her from going to a gun store. He claimed oddly that quote unquote we, took the tracker off Micah's car weeks ago. But why say that JP? So did Micah go to Dick's pawn shop as soon as she realized that she was no longer

being tracked? Or did JP realize at this point that tracking slash stalking someone across state lines is a federal crime and he didn't want his business buddies to think that he might have just exposed them to an FBI investigation. Another big takeaway was the way that he established multiple times that Micah was suicidal and that she made several attempts to get a gun in the past, saying that he had a video of her trying to kill herself with a gun. And to our knowledge, there was never any videos about this 2018 incident and there were lots of red flags, more on that in episode 70.

The only video that we know of is the video in which he appears to be referencing a suicidal attempt. Another big takeaway is that this Crocodile Rocks recording was the first time, to our knowledge, that we are hearing J.P. Miller say the words, I am sorry, for anything in relation to Micah's death. He said quote, I'm very sorry, very, very sorry. I believe it'll blow over in a few weeks, especially after the death certificate gets reported on.

This part is very telling. This is a perfuse apology. Why would he feel obligated to apologize for his wife's alleged suicide to his business buddies? He never said that he was sorry to Micah's friends or family members about her death. I didn't even hear him say sorry to his church members. But he was sorry that this event put his business buddies in a bad spotlight that he believed was going to quote unquote blow over after the death certificate was reported on saying

that Micah died of suicide. Some people are speculating online that this apology points to something more serious and potentially criminal. There's no indication that there's anything criminal going on here, but JP is basically pleading for forgiveness over something that, if we were to believe his own words, was not his fault. Another big takeaway is the way that he described the cause of Micah's mental health problems, giving a scenario that seems literally impossible according to experts that we have spoken to.

He says, quote, after we got married, she had an augmentation. And when she came out of the anesthesia, she was speaking different languages and I didn't know what to do. So I took her to the doctor and they said the anesthesia, and I'm still quoting here guys, tapped into something that was already there because the body was under duress or something." Let me be crystal clear about this with words from an actual mental health therapist who said, quote, it does not work that way. Mental health disorders are not caused by an interaction

between a medication and blood. What does make sense is that she had an acute presence of delirium due to the anesthesia, but persistence of those symptoms would be better explained by medication-induced delirium due to continuing to take a certain medication that her body could not tolerate. The mental health therapist said, quote, Micah could not be properly diagnosed with schizophrenia without at least six months of symptoms, or bipolar two without at least the presence of a hypomanic episode and a depressive episode." So again, why lie about that?

And why lie about that to your business partners so soon after your wife died. And maybe the strangest part about all of this, he told his business buddies that Micah thought artificial intelligence was going after her and that she had been telling people that she was afraid that he was going to lock her up and quote, do things to her mind. Which is interesting because JP did lock Micah up when he appears to have lied to a clinician so that they would have Micah involuntarily hospitalized. And it makes total sense that she would fear

that happening to her again. to her again. And that is the perfect segue to Micah's alleged medical records. The last time we talked about them, we left off with March 2018 and Micah's alleged first suicide attempt. Again, we're saying alleged for the records because of HIPAA. It's impossible to verify them, but they were leaked to us through a known associate of JPs. And we're saying alleged for the suicide attempt too because even though we don't have a reason

to definitively say, this didn't happen, and we're actually not trying to say that at all, we do question what led up to it. So basically, it is just like Micah's alleged suicide in April of this past year. There's just such inconsistency in how JP has referred to and dealt with Micah and her mental health issues throughout the years. And it seems to change depending on what was happening

in the moment in terms of their relationship. For instance, not one time in his text to Micah and Micah's friend, Charlotte Corn, in November, 2022, when their marriage began to fall apart and Micah fled to her sister's house four hours away, did JP ever reference her mental health as any sort of factor or a concern of his? See, he wants us all to believe

that he was dealing with a constantly sick life for seven years and he was the only one who cared about it. He wants us to believe that when she did things that were outside the realm of something that he might have not wanted her to do, that that was a sign of her manic behavior. So you would think when she fled in November 2022 that that would have registered as such. But no, we're seeing example after example of where that only seemed to apply when it suited him. In November 2022, he was angry at Micah for leaving him, but he never once said, are you

having an episode? Or have you been taking your meds? Or hey, I'm concerned about you giving your past with suicidal ideation. No, instead he just laid into her about not being a good Christian wife to him and made threats to embarrass her in front of Charlotte and threats against her family and in fact it turned out that he was the one allegedly suffering from a mental health episode, according to Micah. From her sister's house, she called police and requested that they drive by her house to do a wellness check on JP. And then very shortly after that, when Micah was likely

dealing with the dramatic fallout from going to her sister's house and her fight with JP, when Micah could barely stand on her own and hospital staff suspected she was drugged. JP seemed to try and prevent Micah from being hospitalized, to the point that the police had to be called. Why? Was it because it was on Micah's terms and not on his? Because we all know how that one ended ended with him getting a power of attorney over her healthcare decisions. We've also seen how JP traded Micah in the days after her original so-called diagnosis in December 2017. He acted like she was some out of control, doomed, defiant, and sickly person that he was now burdened with but that he'd gladly take care of.

But more than that, he seemed to use her out of the blue diagnosis as something to lord over her and control her with. Also, he made it all about him. We've told you about how the psychiatrist appeared to regard Micah and JP as one person in these records, how JP appeared to speak for Micah at times and how it appeared that JP had tried to redact a part of the medical records that were given to us so that we wouldn't see that the psychiatrist had written in Micah's files that JP had been stopping Micah's meds and JP and Micah were sharing meds at a time when Micah was experiencing horrible depression

and suicidal ideation. And we've told you how that psychiatrist, Dr. Shady Dresney, had a history that included losing her medical license for a spell after being criminally charged with fraudulently writing prescriptions for painkillers, according to reports. So again, the first suicide attempt in March 2018, according to the records, involved this story. This is just three months after Micah's out of the blue diagnosis and three months after her wedding to JP. She just turned 24 years old. Now, according to JP, Micah woke up early and drove to Dick's pawn shop to buy a gun. At the shop, a Dick's employee taught Micah how to load the gun. She came home and then shot the ground in their yard

and then tried to shoot herself, but the gun jammed. According to JP, neighbors heard and came over and stopped her. For newcomers to the Micah Francis case, check out episode 70 to hear more about why there are timeline questions with JP's account. Since our last episode about this, reporter Beth Braden has done some digging and has yet to find any neighbor who was there at the time who remembers this incident or remembers

hearing about it. She's also checked with the police. There's no record of anyone in the vicinity of JP and Micah's house that day, calling the police to report gunshots or a woman with a gun to her head, which you would think there would be. But then again, maybe everyone was at work when this happened. Instead of calling the police, JP called the mental hospital at 10 that morning.

He gave them the story that he had just woken up when he heard a commotion in the yard and found Micah with the gun and that neighbors had stopped her. Micah was in bad shape when she was admitted to the hospital that day and told her doctor that she had wanted it to work. The doctor noted that JP was going to return the gun to Dick's pawn shop, which is interesting because at the time, JP was a convicted felon and barred from having or transporting a weapon. Okay, so that's the quick and dirty background. If you're new to this case and interested in the finer details of what life was like

for Micah between December 2017 and March 2018, I highly recommend you listen to our old episodes covering this time period because it is so telling. Look for that link to the playlist in the description. And from our perspective anyway, this shows a fine line between having a legitimately serious mental illness and being told that you do and being medicated as if you do. From the records and the court documents, it seemed like Micah was given no room to adjust to her post-breast surgery illness and no room to settle into her medications.

Frankly, the medical records during that time period almost seem hostile to Micah, like she was a disobedient woman for even questioning the accuracy of her diagnosis. And this is important because Micah, according to the records, felt like she didn't have bipolar disorder, but rather that she had a mental breakdown. We are not saying that she didn't have bipolar disorder, by the way. We are saying it is understandable that Micah might have thought it was something else. Why? Well, it seemed like she was under a whole lot of stress at that time.

Again, JP allegedly insisted that she be secretly married so that he could take care of her after her surgery. And then she had to plan the wedding while feeling sick from what seems to be an infection. And she was just 23 years old. And she was on her second marriage. And she belonged to a church that had lost faith in JP because he and Micah were caught cheating

on their respective spouses. Let's not forget that JP was 15 years older than Micah and before her death Micah accused him of grooming her since she was a child. Back to 2018. After her week-long hospital stay for the alleged suicide attempt, Micah was back in the doctor's office on April 4th, 2018 for a follow-up. As far as Micah's health goes, her clinician noted that the meds were helping and that Micah wasn't suicidal or homicidal. They also noted that there were no weapons in Micah's house and that the gun had been returned to the pawn shop. Here is David with some key points on this report

that provide a snapshot of what Micah's life looked like. She reports she learned some coping skills and she is doing better now. Quote, I see now that I was in a really bad place and I can't let myself go down that road again." Educated client on bipolar disorder. She was more receptive to it and is able to recognize that she needs to manage her illness. She has a lot of support from her husband and her family and her church.

She takes daily walks, which is also helping with her anxiety. Client was advised to keep stress level low and take frequent breaks to rest during the day. Client has resigned from job at car dealership and is working part-time at a Christian coffee shop with the other pastor's wives. I want to point out that this was just four days after Micah was discharged from the hospital. Does something seem a little off to you? To me, I find it notable that, according to JP,

Micah had this horrible thing happen to her, this dramatic in-the-yard suicide attempt. She got hospitalized for it. And then four days later, she not only had a new job, but she already started working at it? Now, obviously people have to work, and we've pointed out several times that working seemed to be important to Micah. Or earning money did anyway.

And we know that a job at a Christian coffee shop is likely not going to be overly stressful and that JP might have had a role in getting her that job. But it's still interesting when we're talking about the little details that don't fully add up. Meaning, in December, JP was telling Micah this alleged diagnosis was doomsday for him as a husband because he was going to have to care for someone who was, according to him, no longer going to be the woman that he married and for her because as he informed her, she was going to be in and out of hospitals for the rest of her life. Then, three months after that, this 24-year-old woman is supposed to be trying to shoot herself

in their yard. But then it's okay, she's back to work at a new job, just days after being out of the hospital. Again, we were wondering whether JP had a problem with Micah working at the car dealership. We haven't seen anything that definitively points to that, but we know JP's mother accused his father of preventing her from working anywhere but with him and at the church. And we know that JP's ex-wife did not have a job at the time of her divorce, but she did work at the church at some point in their marriage. JP valued this idea of a good Christian pastor's wife,

so it's a question when we're looking at what contributed to Micah's initial diagnosis. Once more, this follow-up points to the issue of Micah questioning her own diagnosis. And it also vaguely has a fell in line feel to it, you know? Like Micah finally gave in and admitted that she needed help. Or that she gave in to the narrative that was being created around her because that was easier.

This isn't abnormal for people newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but we are looking at this through Micah's lens. The lens where she questioned her diagnosis and where she later made comments about JP's negative contribution to her mental health. To the point that she apparently thought that he was trying to put thoughts in her mind, which is a feature of coercive control, right? Now, things took a little bit of a turn at Micah's next follow-up. Five days after her first post-hospital stay appointment, the clinician wrote that Micah was doing great. But here's

an interesting phrase. The clinician said that Micah was hospitalized for quote, suicidal plans to shoot herself. I'm not trying to split hairs here. I'm really not. But there's a difference in my mind between tried to shoot herself, which is what JP said happened, and having plans to shoot herself, which is what the clinician said. and having plans to shoot herself, which is what the clinician said. I'm going to go back again to Micah's accusation that she feared that JP was going to do things in her mind. Again, JP has denied all allegations of abuse against Micah and he has never been charged with abusing her. But let's talk about what doing things to someone's mind might look like. This week I was talking to a friend about two women in two different scenarios

who survived their would be killers by making the would be killers think that they hadn't just beaten and raped the women. In one of the cases, the woman saw that her captor seemed to be struggling to remember what happened when he saw her sitting next to him in his car. So she told him that she had been badly beaten by someone, it was him, and that he was kind enough to have picked her up off the side of the road and was now driving her to the hospital, which he did.

It's how she survived. Coercive control is obviously a different thing altogether, but doing things to someone's mind sounds like Micah feared brainwashing. And coercive control has elements to it that are not unlike brainwashing. We know Micah was having issues with her medication around the time of her purported first suicide attempt. We know that the clinician noted that J.P. had been sharing meds with her

and had stopped at least one of the meds she had been prescribed. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Micah was not in her right mind at the time. The question is, did she try to kill herself back then or was she told that's what happened? Because having plans to do it is not the same thing as attempting to do it. Also, in this report, the clinician said this, quote, she

was describing all the tools she learned in the hospital to cope with her mental health illness. However, she kept saying that she learned it all by herself, because she is, quote, bright and could have learned better on my own and not in useless groups. She sounded grandiose like this on several occasions. In addition, the clinician said that Micah admitted to lying so that she could get out of the hospital earlier, saying that she needed corrective breast surgery. It's not clear if Micah was discharged early about. Now, I'm not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, so maybe this was Grandiose thinking on Micah's part.

But could it have also been a woman who was trying to downplay the effectiveness of the hospital because she didn't want to go back there again? Is it possible she was trying to say, I got this? Let's also talk about what grandiose thinking is. According to the National Institutes of Health, it is the unfounded belief that one has special powers, wealth, mission, or identity. I would hardly call a woman referring to her own beliefs

and her own intelligence and eschewing the value of group therapy in a place she didn't want to be as grandiose thinking. Which is maddening, right? We have more to share that will make you angry about these medical records after a month later. This record looks like it's from a therapy session. The clinician noted that she educated Micah on bipolar disorder, which could be yet another sign that Micah was questioning her diagnosis.

A diagnosis that typically takes time to arrive at and not one that you get overnight. Which seems to be what happened to Micah. Again, we question whether the initial diagnosis was truly warranted or if it was based on JP's mischaracterization of Micah's behavior. In this record, Micah reported having one night of sleeplessness and having fleeting thoughts of suicidal ideation. She said she then realized that she had forgotten to take her meds. She said, quote, I realize I will need these meds for a long time.

I don't want to feel like I want to die. I have a great fear of getting old. I look in the mirror and I don't like what I see. I'm gaining weight because of the meds. Vanity issues are not unusual by any stretch of the imagination for someone Micah's age. But again, how much of this fear was rooted in the fact that maybe she felt like being young and looking young was something that JP valued in her.

How much of this was her knowing that while JP has said that her weight didn't matter to him, it was an issue that he addressed in an email within days of her going on her new meds and before their wedding. Now here's where it gets really interesting. Then Micah told the clinician about problems that she was having in her marriage. This was five months after her wedding. Clients spoke about how her and her husband have different parenting style and it causes conflict.

So there it is, right? This appears to be a therapy session, which Micah, according to the record, denied that she needed. This is only the second therapy session since her diagnosis, according to the records that we were given anyway. Remember what we told you about the first one? That the therapist had noted she told Micah that she could attend those sessions alone and that they could later talk about having sessions that included JP too?

And remember what we told you about some other records from the psychiatrist? That JP was there with Micah and seemed to be speaking for her. This appears to be Micah finally being able to talk openly. While we don't know for sure that JP wasn't in the room with Micah when she discussed their problems, we have a pretty good grasp on what JP is like, and it's hard to believe that he would not have weighed in, which we imagine the clinician would have noted. That said, JP has five children,

and before Micah had an affair with JP, before she married him, she worked as a nanny for four of those children. Joining a family under these circumstances would be very stressful for a 23 year old. So it's not at all surprising to hear that this was a source of conflict for them. But the more important thing, this was going on at the same time that Micah's mental health seemed to be collapsing. We keep saying it, but we fully believe that moving in with JP meant chaos for Micah and being

secretly married to him and having plastic surgery that she purportedly did for him and now having to care for at least four children. Well, that would add a lot of stress. It makes sense why Micah would think that she was having a nervous breakdown. In June 2018, the clinician wrote that Micah was being seen for a follow-up visit since she decompensates quickly and unexpectedly. That would suggest that it wasn't a gradual breakdown, right? That the two times now on record

where she supposedly decompensated, she went from 0 to 60. Let's talk about what could cause that. First, a lack of sleep. Remember how Micah's List accused JP of disrupting Micah's sleep as a form of coercive control over her? How he would allegedly walk into the room and yank the blankets off of her. Remember how Micah's November 2022 hospital stay came after a profound lack of sleep, according to Micah? Then there's going long periods without eating. Again, weight was a persistent concern for her

and for JP, though he denies it. We've seen his emails where he seemed to focus on Micah's so-called lack of discipline when it came to eating. Remember that he suggested that she eat oatmeal? Then there's irregular compliance to medication and taking medications that weren't prescribed to her. We've already gone over that. There's money issues, there's pressure of now being a pastor's wife, and then there's the run-of-the-mill alleged abuse, which is at the heart of this story, the accusations of coercive control.

So six months into this brand new flap-dash diagnosis, a diagnosis that usually doesn't come until clinicians have their chance to observe the patient for a period of time. The clinician has already determined that Micah falls out without warning and fast. Which fine. Here's what else she says. She reports feeling like she has a lazy brain because her creativity is gone. She recognizes that it was her mania at the time and she will be stabilized further. She recognized that she had a lot of delusional thoughts at the time and she laughed about it. She is going with her husband on a missionary trip to Jamaica

for a week and is excited but stressed. First, JP has repeatedly said on the record that he does not like missionary trips. Second, Solid Rock's other trips seem to be based in African countries or in Pakistan. Third, interesting that JP and Micah were going to one of the top destinations for honeymoons shortly after they were married and in the midst of this allegedly very significant mental health crisis of Micah's. And interesting that no one we have spoken to seems to remember the church ever doing a mission trip to Jamaica at that time,

but there is some memory of Micah and JP going there. From what we understand, Micah and JP did go to Jamaica, but it wasn't for a mission trip. It was for vacation. They visited a local church while they were down there and Micah sang at the service. But as far as anyone knows, there wasn't any actual mission work being done. So either the clinician misunderstood what Micah was saying or she was misled. Which makes me wonder, is the FBI looking into Solid Rock's quote-unquote mission trips? Two weeks after this visit, Micah returned to the clinic for therapy.

At no point in any of the future reports is this Jamaica mission trip referred to again. The report notes that at this visit, Micah had a flat affect. She told the clinician that she didn't have any issues she wanted to work on. In fact, she said this, quote, "'I am fine. My life is moving along well.

I'm not like I used to be. I am living my life. I am not depressed and I am not having anxiety. I have nothing to really talk about.'" And what's really funny is that the clinician wrote that Micah appeared not to want to be there. She also noted that Micah needed reconstructive surgery for breast augmentation and that Micah rejects it. Why did she note this? I don't know. Why did Micah allegedly reject it? Again, no idea. But money was apparently an issue at the time. Three weeks after this,

Micah was back in the clinic for a med check. We've talked a little bit about this report before. According to the clinician, Micah was pleasant at first, but then became irritated and argumentative writing quote, this is because she didn't like hearing anything contrary to what she wants to do, like not spend money on her labs and the need to come to therapy, which she refuses to do. She only wants to come to see me and get the prescription. She was caught in a couple of distortions of reality. She was animated telling me about using

supplements to lose weight, but when I confronted her with the fact that she has money for that, but not for her labs or therapy, she got upset. So first, sources have pointed out to us that it looks like the clinician was allowing her personal feelings about Micah to trigger her. Second, how is it that JP, Mr. I'm going to write my new wife an email telling her about how she needs to take this bipolar diagnosis seriously and comply, comply, comply, Mr. I'm going to be taking care of my wife forever and that's fine. Can't afford to get his wife the lab she needs to monitor her lithium levels? That's kind of odd, right?

It should have been a priority for him. Because the clinician isn't wrong. It's clear what Micah's focus was here. Supplements for weight loss, but no labs to monitor what was in her system. Interesting. In August, they gave Micah another order to get her labs done and referred her to the hospital's indigent program. Again, it doesn't appear that Micah and JP

had health insurance at the time. The clinician noted yet again that she educated Micah on her diagnosis. So again, it seems like Micah was questioning it. But also in this report, the clinician says that Micah appears to have returned to pre-crisis levels. Micah told the clinician that she was now working three days a week at the coffee shop and that the hours were working well for her. She also told the clinician that working for the car dealership had stressed her out. She also had started running and working out and

had been cooking healthy meals for her and her stepchildren. In September the clinician noted that Micah recognized she had a lot of delusional thoughts when she got manic and that Micah hadn't been quote irritated or quote argumentative lately. It's not clear whether that was the clinician's assessment or she was hearing it from Micah or even JP. But again, it's this language that I guess makes sense if Micah actually was suffering from bipolar disorder and struggling with the reality of that. But it still seems very judgmental. And when taken together with this idea that Micah felt like she had been misdiagnosed and this idea that the diagnosis itself caused a lot of our listeners who are professionals

in the mental health field to pause because of the timeline or lack thereof, it's language that in our opinion keeps Micah imprisoned by a diagnosis she wasn't certain she had, right? See, Micah's not concerned. She's argumentative. She's not frustrated. She's irritated. It's patronizing, and it robs her of her own agency. It shows that she wasn't trusted. And it seems like she wasn't allowed to say how she felt about things unless what she felt complied with what they thought of her or what JP was telling her was going on. Now mind you, Micah had only had two manic episodes at this point according to the records and of course had been hospitalized for an alleged suicide attempt. Now the reports fell off after this.

The next one we have is for February 2019 and it's not clear whether Micah had continued going to monthly med checks. We've talked about this report before because of the doctor's judgy tone. Here's a sample of that. Quote, we discussed symptoms and warning signs in order to prevent further decompensation again, but she said she never knew. This shows how poor her concentration and attention span she has, since I review it with her every appointment due to how severe and extreme her symptoms were. She recognized that she had a lot of delusional thoughts

when she gets manic, and she needs to listen to her husband when he raises concerns. The doctor then went on to talk about Micah's quote-unquote strange idea for diets, including five-day fasts, which if you've ever been 24 years old living in a beach town, tell me more about strange ideas for diets, okay? It's not unusual to experience disordered eating patterns and trying things like fasting. That said, this is even more evidence that the doctor, Shady Dutresni, really seemed to align with JP because he really seems to be more present in her reports. After all this, we don't have a medical record until more than a year later, in July 2020.

And it's a partial record. This record notes that Micah was now a vegan and had been stable on medication for more than a year and a half. It also notes that Micah was still working at the coffee shop and had been taking yoga classes and teaching them. This record was given to us with pen marks on it. Again, the person that gave them to us said that any marks on the pages came from JP. Here, JP appears to have written LOL next to the part of the report

that he appears to have circled that talk about how there was no cost for lithium if Micah got it from the local hospital. Then we go another year and three months until we have another medical record from a telehealth appointment in November, 2021. According to the notes, JP sat in on this meeting because he wanted to know how they should proceed

in terms of having a baby together. They told the clinician they wanted to have a baby in the next two years. Which is interesting because remember JP's ex-wife's claims? That around this time, JP was allegedly engaging in a long-term affair with a woman he continues to be seen with till this day. Suzy Skinner. Two months prior to this appointment, Susie's husband, who was the quadriplegic, drowned in their neighborhood pool.

We'll talk more about that case in a future episode, but he was by himself and we have seen the security footage appear to roll his wheelchair into the water. The clinician noted that Micah seemed quote-unquote obsessed with exercising, but denied having an eating disorder. Micah was still vegan, and at the time of this report, in 2021, Micah and JP were getting ready to go to Disney World for a vacation. Sounds like a happy couple, right?

Here is JP talking about that trip. This is a sermon he gave from two weeks after that appointment in November 2021. This past week, you know, we were at Disney for our anniversary vacation. And one day, I just, I don't know what happened. I just blew up. I did not enjoy at all anything at Disney World. It seems like it's very close to hell. There's two things I hate doing I hate waiting and I hate wasting money. You know what Disney World's all about That waiting and wasting money it is good. So one day for whatever reason my wife upset me and man

I just blew up. I'm, I just said the most horrible things out loud in front of other people, in front of the people that we were with. I just regurgitated all over her verbally. And I just said, me and her, for some reason, I got just so anxious and angry, and I just let her have it, and it was horrible. It was horrible.

It was so horrible. It ruined our whole day, practically ruined the trip. I repented a dozen times that night. I repented to the people that we were with who heard me say these things. I take full responsibility, although it was 100% her fault. And I'll tell you why. She thought it'd be a good idea

to bring me to Disney World. I mean, you know, when people say you have to wait in line, I thought that was like a metaphor. You really, after you enter the park, you spend all day waiting in lines. For one ride, we waited 17 hours, I think. That's what I counted, 17 hours. And we wait in line to ride a 30 second ride. And the only goal of the ride is to get your equilibrium off balance so you feel like you're gonna throw up all day long. That's all Disney World is.

That's it, that's it. And the money and people spend money to do this. I ruined our vacation. I said horrible things. I repented. I get back home. We're home Sunday night. I usually spend a few minutes around midnight, Sunday night, and talk to God.

What do I need to preach on next Sunday? And God said, I want you to preach on peace. And we'll be right back. And here's Micah from a February 15, 2024 call to 911. This is immediately after her week-long stay in a mental ward because JP had her involuntarily hospitalized. She had just witnessed JP use the police like his personal security firm. And now, she was learning that it didn't work the same for her. She told the dispatcher that JP was in a manic state and a direct danger to himself and others.

She said that she needed an immediate pickup for him. As part of the call, she explained that he had been violent with her in the past, specifically at Disney. Again, this call was just from nine months ago. He made contact but it didn't knock the wind out of me like it should have. And he pushed me down and hurt thousands of people at Disney World and so, yeah, and his best friend even saw that happen. He slapped drink right out of my hand. Okay, when did he put his hands in your throat? That was before I got, I was in the hospital after that from just a panic attack of what was happening. That was about a week ago, but I just got out of the hospital a couple days ago. And when I got out, he was impersonating my identity with the phone that he had in his hands.

I didn't even have my phone or anything, and he's texting everybody. He hacked my social media, and he's got guns in the home. He's used guns as intimidation in the past, where he's put his hands on me. And he's on an antipsychotic medicine that he's misusing. And I even got off the phone with the pharmacy. He didn't pick up his latest prescription, which he should have on January 3rd. And I believe at this point, based on the people that he's come in contact with, some of them reported to me that, based on how he's talking,

they feared he had killed and buried me somewhere." So, two things. One, how about that snippet of JP's sermon? It's like a demented stand-up act. It's really hard to listen to his church members laughing at this incident knowing what we know, while Micah likely sat nearby. And two, think about how that would wear on you. To the church, JP was an honest pastor telling on himself, coming clean in front of his flock. But to Micah, to his wife, JP was rewriting history in a way that left out her reality and made him out to be almost charming. Now, according to Micah, JP's best friend witnessed this blow up, so it makes sense

why JP would out himself to the church. He had to get to them before someone else could give them a different version of what happened. And bonus, by doing so, he gets to present himself as this humble man of God who is confronting his own flaws and taking responsibility for them. Pastor, please, if you really think about what JP was saying, even if you don't factor in the part where he appears to be leaving out the alleged physical aspect of his abusive behavior, it seems like he's taking ownership

but what he's actually doing is distracting them to disarm them. He's giving them these relatable excuses for his behavior, right? Disney is expensive, ha ha ha. Disney is crowded, ha ha ha. My wife, she made me go, ha ha ha ha. I ruined the trip ha ha ha ha and

If as is likely the case he said all of this in front of Micah it then Legitimizes his version of the story right well Micah was there. She heard what he said and she didn't disagree It's pure manipulation It's pathetic. Because from where we sit, it seems like the story went more like this. Micah wanted to go to Disney because Disney is fun. And she wanted to celebrate the anniversary of her marriage at a time when she very likely might have suspected JP of adultery.

Maybe she wanted to go on this trip to feel closer to him or for him to feel closer to her. Maybe she thought he could use a bit of fun. But see, JP wasn't mature enough, ironically, to go to Disney. He was too emotional, too volatile, he lacked decorum and social awareness, or he simply didn't care. To JP, what JP felt was the most important thing in the world that day at Disney World. Nothing else mattered to him except making his wife ultra aware of who gets to decide how their day goes. He gets to decide what her day looks like. And ha ha ha, how funny.

You know what's not funny? That JP had a history of impulsive violent behavior at that point. In 1998 he pleaded guilty to purposely hitting a woman with his truck and driving with her on the hood until he stopped short and she flew off according to the arrest warrant. Shortly before he and Michael went to Disney World, volatile and emotional JP, a felon, filed his paperwork to have that record of impulsive violent behavior pardoned by the state of South Carolina.

Oh yeah, he had just filed his paperwork before the trip, essentially asking the state to allow him to own guns again, or at least that's what it seemed like from his application. We know it wasn't so he could vote because he does not appear to be registered in the state of South Carolina to do that. Here's JP and his attorney at his pardon hearing, which was held after this trip in early 2022. Well, first of all, when it happened more than 20 years ago, the incident was I was driving a work truck through a wake zone after a hurricane and the person that brought the charge or whatever said that the waves of the wake zone, I guess knocked them over or

something. And when I went to court, I was young and I didn't have a lawyer, didn't know anything. And a lady that was in the courthouse just told me to plead guilty. And so I went in to plead guilty and the person who was bringing the charges didn't even show up because they had three or four warrants out for their arrest. I never even met the person or saw the person

ever in my entire life. And I didn't even know that I had this charge until a few years ago. Okay, I have a wife and five children, my older three are college graduates. I've started a church that has over 500 people in it each week. We have a, I started a homeless ministry that specifically takes vets that are homeless off the streets, gets them jobs w congregation and we get t Um, give them transportat

our courses. I started a school that is the most a all of Myrtle Beach so th that wants to put their c school can do so. Um, like know this charge was on my record until recently. I guess I'm just looking for a little bit of forgiveness and I think that it would, you know, with the lieutenants and the policemen in our congregation, just, you know, it just

adds to my, I guess the things that I've accomplished in the past 20 something years, it just feels weird having a charge on your record like that, especially one of how it took place. And here's JP's attorney who was also at the hearing. And I think that because it's been 20 years since the completion of his probation, we're looking to restore civil liberties, especially for a leader of a church, person who's started educational programs and homeless veterans programs. I think that restoring civil liberties

for a man like this is important as an American and as a South Conor resident. It's been 20 years again, and my clients, the change in his life is, it was brought on not by the state, it's by his own self doing. And I think it's night and day from the 90s to now of what he's done, what he's accomplished,

not for himself and his family, but also for the community as a whole in the state of South Carolina. And I think that that warrants the restoration of civil liberties. He knows that the charge won't be removed from his record, but it's the forgiveness based on the life that he's lived, the exemplary life he's lived,

and the goals and rewards that he sought for not only himself, his family and the rest of Southdome. It's day and night. JP's behavior is day and night to what it was before. Forgive him for that aberration that he didn't even remember or didn't remember beyond the parts where he knew he really didn't do anything wrong and blamed everyone else. The victim, the random woman who supposedly urged him to plead guilty without a lawyer

for it being on the record. The audacity of these men. It's hard not to get angry about this stuff when you look at all the signs of how little Micah's account of reality was valued, how her reality was repeatedly denied. But what matters most now is that it appears that FBI agents investigating JP Miller are valuing Micah more than any other person of authority. She asked for help while she was alive. We only hope that they do not fail her like the rest of them did. Before we go,

we have a quick update on the Christa Bauer Gilley case. To start with, accused killer Lee Gilley's arraignment hearing is coming up on November 20th, and we are currently making arrangements to cover it. Also, according to the Harris County Clerk of Courts office, it looks like the state has filed subpoenas to get Lee and Krista's Simply Safe security footage. We are working on finding out where Lee Gillie is supposed to be living while out on bond, and we will let you know as soon as we do. Also, please let us know if you have any tips for navigating the Harris County, Texas courts.

We are new to the state and county and we are trying our best to learn the ropes quickly. We are also still looking for sources in this case who knew Krista, so please email us. Every bit of information counts. Now, there are two other developments that we have to tell you about. We of course, foiled Harris County for recordings of Lee's phone calls from the week or so he was in jail. And we were informed this week that our request is being forwarded to the Texas Attorney General's office for a ruling.

That is a big deal. As you might remember, our request for Elick Murdoch's phone calls from jail resulted in us learning a whole lot about Elick and other surrounding corruption, including what appeared to be a huge payoff to an attorney connected to the dean's office at the University of South Carolina School of Law. It also resulted in Dick and Jim trying to block us and other media from getting more calls. They took their case to federal court where they were eventually told what we knew all

along, that the calls are public record. We don't know how the Attorney General's office will rule in Texas, but we are happy to be the test case here. And one final thing, we learned on Wednesday afternoon that Lee has hired a third high-priced attorney to join his defense team, and his name is Dick. I cannot make this stuff up, y'all. Dick DeGurin, he is 83 years old

and one of the most famous defense attorneys in the state of Texas. He has quite the client list, including the Robert Durst and David Koresh. It's clear that Lee Gilley can now be counted among the long list of wealthy men who think that they can continue to buy their way out of consequence and accountability despite the rest of us saying enough with the two systems of justice. This is all just to say that this case is getting big and we are going to follow it every step of the way to make sure that Krista and her family get justice. Please continue to keep donating to Krista's family's GoFundMe link in the description

as they are up against a very expensive defense team. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. 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. Hey there listeners, E.B. here and I want to tell you about a new weekly podcast that I'm hosting. I love being a lawyer, being a speaker. I absolutely am looking forward to being an author of my book, Anything But Bland, but

I'm excited to tell you that I'm launching my very own podcast called good skill betting on yourself I delve into the idea that success isn't merely about luck But is instead achieved through honing skills and strategic efforts and planning each episode of good skill offers listeners an Insightful journey into the minds of individuals who are reshaping their respective industries and their careers individuals who are reshaping their respective industries and their careers. Good Skill serves as a beacon of inspiration with a roster of interesting guests like independent journalist, media disruptor, and Cup of Justice co-host Mandy Matney. These conversations empower listeners seeking to make their mark in the world. Visit the ericbland.com website to learn more or listen wherever you get your podcasts.