Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #78 - What Happened to Mica Francis On Her Way to Work? + Russell Laffitte’s Hearing and Alex Murdaugh’s Appeal

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell have spent months behind-the-scenes — along with researcher and reporter Beth Braden — trying to piece together what happened to Mica Francis in the 34 minutes between when she left for work on April 27 and when she bought a gun shortly before allegedly killing herself in a North Carolina swamp. And now they have a theory about what would have been bad enough for Mica to think she had to take her own life. As they await the outcome of the FBI’s investigation into Mica’s estranged husband Myrtle Beach Pastor JP Miller, they re-examine the evidence and piece it together with NEW information gleaned from sources. Three words: History repeats itself. Also on the show, alleged Murdaugh co-conspirator Russell Laffitte has his first state court appearance since his federal conviction was overturned last month. And Alex Murdaugh gets creative with his latest 132-page appellate brief in his quest for a new murder trial. Episode Resources Alex Murdaugh - Dec 10, 2024 Initial Appellant Brief Russell Laffitte’s State Charges Status Hearing - Dec 9, 2024 “Cory Fleming Pleads Guilty to 23 Charges Related to More Than $3 Million in Theft” by Beth Braden The Rat Hole Assault Incident Report - Dec 8, 2024 True Sunlight Episodes #51 & #77 Mica’s List + Mica’s Law 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... Eric Bland's New Book!!! - Mandy's Book in Paperback!! - Marcia Clark's New Book - Amanda Knox's New Book - Tamron Hall's New Book - Erin Lee Carr's Book 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

Miami Metro catches killers and they say it takes a village to race one. Anyone knows how powerful urges can be? It's me. Catch Dexter Morgan in a new serial killer origin story. There's hunger inside of you. It needs a master. Featuring Patrick Gibson, Christian Slater, special guest star Sarah Michelle Geller, with Patrick Dency and Michael C. Hall as Dexter's inner voice. I wasn't born a killer. I was made. Dexter Original Sin, new series streaming December 13th,

exclusively on Paramount Plus, a mountain of entertainment. I don't know if we will ever know the full truth about what happened to Micah before she died. But after learning about a new piece of information, we are starting to consider a different theory. And while we wait for answers from the FBI, we think that this one is worth talking about. 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. Hello! Tis the season for more Murdock drama and of course, this week we had plenty of it. But before we get into all of that, I want to say thank you again to every single Lunashark Premium member. We celebrated our two-year anniversary for our Premium community this month and that is a big deal. For those of y'all who are thinking about gifting themselves or a loved one a membership this holiday season, let me quickly give you three reasons why you should. Number 1. The community you will meet.

Premium members get access to our in-person and virtual events, as well as our Discord channel and live court coverage. smart, kind, sunshine-loving people from all over the world can discuss cases, current events, TV shows, movies and books like mine, Blood on Their Hands and Eric Bland's Called Anything But Bland, Winky Face Emoji, Christmas Tree Emoji. Number 2. The Knowledge, Information and Entertainment You Will Get. Every month Premium Members get access to special episodes only for our community. Some of the episodes dive into complicated topics like defamation or media literacy.

David and Sam's Corruption Watchlist episodes tell you about shocking cases where crime meets corruption around the country. Beth's Soundbites episodes provide much needed recaps and understanding of our work. Oh, and you will hear Girl Talk, my new favorite project, where you essentially hear Liz and I gabbing on the phone about the latest in news, pop culture,

and whatever is on our minds. Also, you get access to our timelines, visual guides, and case files that will help you think and investigate like a journalist and expose the truths in your own life. And number 3, finally, the impact you will make. Lunashark is a small business at the end of the day and like any small business, I promise that your Lunashark Premium membership fees are put to good use. Our members are literally keeping journalism dreams alive. The more members we have, the more journalists we can hire, the more FOIAs we can

file, the more cases we can cover, the more pressure we can put on public agencies to do their jobs and hopefully get more justice. We are still in the early phases of Lunashark, but I can tell y'all, every single membership matters a whole lot to us. So if you want a gift to membership or get one for yourself, head to lunasharkmedia.com or click the link in the description today. And speaking of the holidays, we have a whole new line of merch on our website designed by Yours Truly and I think that there is something for everyone.

Like a Don't Be a Dick coffee mug, and a really cute allegedly sweatshirt, or an awesome pesky-does-it t-shirt, check it out today at lunasharkmerch.com or click the link in the episode description. Okay now for Murdoch news. On Tuesday as anticipated, Elick Murdoch's defense team filed their 132-page appeal in response to the South Carolina Supreme Court's decision that they would hear Elick's appeal as opposed to the appellate court hearing it.

They basically consolidated his appeals, which was no biggie at all. But the trial-thirsty media, of course, did their best to convince the public that this was huge news and a big win for the defense. After that decision, the Supreme Court gave Elick Murdoch's team a deadline to file their appeal this week and they did that. And this story was covered everywhere in mainstream media. Like you would think that it's the biggest news in Murdoch in months.

Which is wild because only a few news outlets covered Russell Lafitte's hearing this week, and I would argue that the story of one of Murdoch's alleged accomplices wiggling his way to freedom and purchasing lawyer-legislator power to do so should be a big deal to reporters who claim to be covering the corruption angle of this case. But no, as always, reporters love promoting Murdoch's side in his long-winded claims that the justice system was just so unfair to him. Because guys, they want another trial.

Not for the sake of Murdoch, not for the sake of the justice system. They want it for themselves. For the clicks, for the views, for the easy stories. The appeal filed this week is the first comprehensive appeal containing all of Elick Murdoch's grievances about his murder trial, as opposed to the other appeals that we've seen that focused on the same old issues. We are going to talk a lot more about this brief in a Cup of Justice episode, but for now I'll give you all the skinny.

Like I said, as anticipated, the brief focused a lot on Becky Hill, naming her over 100 times. Team Murdock claims that Justice Toll got it wrong when she denied Elex's attempt to get a new trial in January of this year. But in this newly padded appeal full of new fluff to sort through, Team Murdock also made some other claims. They claimed that Newman should not have allowed the 403B character evidence into the murder trial,

and that is despite Jimbo opening the door for it. They also argued that the state violated Murdoch's due process rights by using his post-Miranda silence to impeach him, which was one we hadn't heard before. They claimed that, quote, after being arrested on the murder charges to impeach the exculpatory trial testimony that Ellick offered about being at the kennels is in violation of Ellick's due process rights, which that's wild. In this brief, Team Murdoch also picked apart random bits of evidence entered at trial per usual, like the testimony from the cop who said that it was possible to throw a cell phone from a car without the cell phone lighting up.

They also argued against the gun evidence and the raincoat slash big blue thing evidence. So once again, it appears to be a hundred plus pages of pretty much nothing from Team Elec. I say appears to be because we haven't reviewed it entirely yet, because these always seem to drop on production day. But so far, we haven't seen anything close to an argument

that would convince the Supreme Court to overturn Elec's murder conviction. We understand everyone has the right to a fair trial, but I gotta ask, how much money and lawyer fees did this 132-page appeal cost him? Him as in the guy who claims to be broke? Maybe, just maybe, the state could figure out exactly where that missing money is by, I don't know, asking Dick and Jim, considering it looks like they are

continuing to take checks from the Murdochs. Most defendants can't afford appellate attorneys spending months to pick apart every little shred of evidence that has a slight chance of convincing the Supreme Court to change its mind. So before anyone starts shouting that he has the right to appeal like everyone else, know that this man has always been in a privileged position in the legal system as it appears that his defense fund is limitless. Check out the link in the description to read the full appeal and stay tuned to next week's Cup of Justice where we will give y'all the full scoop.

Justice, where we will give y'all the full scoop. It's been a long time since we've seen what one of the main players in the Elik Murdoch crime world looks like after being in prison for some time. And we have to say, on Russell's feet, prison looks exactly the way it is supposed to look. On Monday, Russell, who is now a free man and awaiting four criminal trials, which I'll explain in a second, appeared in Orangeburg County for a status conference in his state case and he looked gloomy and kind of like a man who doesn't even have the energy to wish for a rewind button to his own life. One prison month for Russell is apparently like five regular months for the rest of us who haven't been accused of opening up our family bank vault for future

murderers. Russell has only been in federal prison for about 14 months of his seven-year federal sentence. And he kind of went from looking like the butler from the Adams family to a full-on ghost condemned to haunting lighthouses for eternity. And in the meantime, his lawyers Mark Moore and State Representative Todd Rutherford, who were there in all their glory Monday, were giving off vibes like they were on a game show called Get Russell's Money, which I'll tell you more about in a second. So Russell faces 21 state charges for allegedly using his family's local bank, i.e. breaking the law,

to help Alex steal almost $2 million from his clients, including clients who were children at the time. Russell faces three sets of charges, one set each for his alleged role in helping to steal from the Badger, Plyler, and Pinkney families. Russell is the only Murdoch pal who opted to go to trial on the financial crimes. Ellick pleaded guilty to his state and federal charges in 2023, as did Ellick's best friend

Corey Fleming, who is currently finishing his less than four-year federal sentence and is expected to transfer to state prison in 2026 to serve another almost 14 years there. Russell? Well, he's going for broke. Almost literally. And that's the thing that's always gotten us about ol' Russell. He can't admit defeat because he does not seem to think that what he allegedly did was illegal or all that bad. But you know, being too cowardly and greedy to stop a friend from using you to help steal millions of dollars from vulnerable and injured victims who were experiencing the worst kinds of grief after catastrophic car wrecks is almost worse than

coming up with the idea in the first place. But I don't need to get on a soapbox. Y'all know how we feel about enablers and people who are willfully blind to what is happening in front of them. So the main objectives on Monday were to set a trial date, decide on Russell's inkled monitor, and make their cases about whether Russell's assets should be unfrozen so they can be used to pay his overdue attorney's bills and for his future representation. Now one of the first interesting things to note about the hearing is who was there. Obviously our Cup of Justice co-host Eric Bland was and so was Mark Tinsley.

Both Eric and Mark represent victims of Russell's alleged crimes. Also there was attorney Sean Kent who represents Buster Murdoch in Buster's defamation case. Now, why was Sean there? Was it for Buster? Or is he possibly the mysterious additional counsel that we told you Russell said he planned to hire in a recent federal court filing? Sean didn't sit up at the table with Russell or his three attorneys, but when Crane Waters, BCE himself, introduced the case to Judge Heath Taylor after they were all in chambers for 30 minutes, here's what he said. We're obviously here on the status and I know that Mr. Raffi, of course, is present. He's represented by Mark Moore, Todd Rutherford, and Michael Parente, or maybe somebody else.

Maybe somebody else? Could it be Sean Kent, who appeared to walk into the courthouse with Russell and his legal team? I guess we'll find out. It's always so interesting to watch good old boys who don't pay their bills act nonchalant about possibly increasing the number of people on their expensive legal team that they're supposedly not paying. Okay, so Judge Taylor opened the hearing by telling the room that Rutherford had somewhere he needed to be. So they were going to handle the scheduling first. You heard that, right? He decided to start with scheduling because Todd Rutherford needed to be there for that part of the conversation, right? Which Creighton acknowledges.

Obviously, he's hired Mr. Rutherford and there's obviously the legislative concerns of his legislative duties to deal with as we try to schedule this. At the time, the federal appeal was still pending. And so we kind of kicked the can down the road just a little bit. Ultimately, in November of 2023, Elig Murdoch pled guilty to all the financial crimes, including the ones related to the allegations against Mr. Lafitte. And then as Your Honor is aware, just a couple of months ago, the Fourth Circuit flipped the federal convictions. So, we're here to seek to get a trial date.

There is a new order, as you're all aware, that came out addressing the parameters of legislative immunity from being called to trial given their legislative service. One of the provisions in there that the state wants to, of course, is it says that any case that they're involved in or that there is retained in a case that's over two years old is, there is no absolute protection. I know there may be some dispute about the effect of that particular language as to whether on his face that means any case that's two years old, which this certainly is, or whether or not it means that the lawyer or legislator got involved at the point it was already two years old, but we certainly would assert that that order freezes up a little bit. Ah, legislative immunity, the law and subsequent Supreme Court orders that allow lawyer legislators to say that they can't appear in court during the legislative session.

appear in court during the legislative session. Remember when we told you last week about how Todd Rutherford just showed up in Russell's case one day? And how lawyer legislators, of which Todd is one of the most lawyer-y and legislatave-y, profit from being tagged into cases where defendants who can afford such a perk can essentially pay to have their cases delayed into oblivion. It's a nice little business model that lawyer legislators have there for themselves. And you heard what Creighton said, right? That there's a new provision to legislative immunity that no longer gives these lawyer legislators

absolute immunity for cases older than two years? And how there may be a dispute about the language of that provision? Stick a pin in that. Todd Rutherford did not like anything about what Creighton or the judge said about him and his ability to delay cases again. I'd like to remind you that the judge already told all of us that he was moving the scheduling part first to accommodate Todd. Watch how Todd is like, how dare you people accuse me of being here to exploit my golden ticket? Thank you, Your Honor. Please record. Yes, sir. Obviously, somewhere along the line, I got elected to the General Assembly.

Not sure what that has to do with the schedule of this trial. As Your Honor stated, Your Honor can't do it in the next six months anyway. So just to be clear, this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm in the legislature as to why this case should not go forward in the next six months. Now see, this is where I wish judges would be like, oh, for real? So if something comes open over the next six months, you're in then? Because what a performance. So let's talk about this real quick. First, to make all of this easier on us, instead of calling it legislative immunity, which is its own thing, its own set of laws that includes things like barring law enforcement

from arresting a member of the General Assembly while attending sessions, traveling to or from sessions, and for 10 days before or after adjournment, we're going to call this other immunity the Todd Rutherford Special. Legislators love having things named after them, so it's a compliment, really. Okay, so the Rutherford Special started as a law in 1979 that gave lawyer-legislators the ability to bow out of court obligations in a limited way. For instance, the law is specific. It seems limited to days when a legislator is actually obliged to attend to his or her responsibilities rather than just assuming January through July

of every year a blackout dates for them. The law also provides a counterweight. For instance, if a lawyer legislator has already been granted a delay of six months or more, then that law wouldn't protect them from appearing while in session. Also, if their client were in jail, that client would have to agree with the delay. That said, in 2001, Chief Justice Gene Toll

issued an order that gave lawyer legislators broader ability to invoke what we're calling the Rutherford. Then she expanded the ability in 2010 and 2013. When Chief Justice Donald Beatty took over, he superseded those orders but extended the perk. Lawyer legislators were granted absolute protection from January through the last day in July, plus any other special dates that might pop up related to their legislative work. In 2020, Chief Justice

Beatty was like, hmm, how would I do you one better? And he allowed them to use their gerrymandering time, sorry, their legislative redistricting time, as an excuse to not come to court. Then in 2022, Justice Beatty was like, y'all keep abusing this privilege, and he tried to rein them in. According to Cindy Ross Goppe of the Charleston Post-Incurrier, Justice Beatty said he tightened the rules because he, quote, frequently got calls from judges and litigants complaining about lawyer legislators refusing to show up for hearings or depositions. In a January order, Justice Beatty required lawyer legislators to appear in court during the legislative session for criminal cases that were older than three years in general sessions or 18 months or longer in magistrate court.

That order lasted a day, one day. The lawyer legislators did not like it. And we've already told you the power that they have over the state's judges. And so Justice Beatty issued a new order in February, 2022, dropping the part that would have greatly affected some law firms' bottom lines. And he instead limited it to just bond revocation matters and emergency family court hearings

when children were involved in the case. Those were the two times when lawyer legislators couldn't use the Rutherford special, but they still had seven months out of the year largely at their disposal. That brings us to Friday and the latest order in the matter, which we will tell you about after a short break and we will be right back. When I look back at my younger self, I remember the feeling of being bullied and disrespected. I remember hating that feeling. And I remember the day that I resolved to never let it happen again.

When I founded Bland Richter with my partner Ronnie Richter, we committed to build a firm that demanded respect and that would fight the powerful on behalf of clients who felt powerless. We stand tall against the largest law firms in the state, the country, and the entire world, and we've remained true to the commitment not to be pushed around. Tenacious representation, proven results. We are Bland-Richter. Learn more about what we do and who we are by visiting bland richter.com. That's

Bland R I C H T E R dot com As We were saying the latest Supreme Court order was issued Friday by Chief Justice John Kittredge, who is largely regarded to be a friendly face for lawyer legislators. He is also proving to be one of those people in power who doesn't like it one bit when people call him or his friends out. He seems to be like someone who really loved that period in time when a man could say shhh it's fine and no one pushed back but

it's not fine and we are not gonna listen to shhh. Freddie's order was five pages. I'm not going to go into everything in the order but only want to talk about the part that pertains to Russell's hearing. Chief Justice Kitchridge allowed the exception of absolute protection in criminal cases. And I'm reading this next part verbatim. Quote, where the lawyer-legislator is retained to represent a defendant for a criminal charge that is two years old or older. As y'all know, Russell was charged by the state

in April, 2022. Now, how can a lawyer take the words that I just read to you from the order and twist them? It seems pretty clear, right? It's apparently not, according to what Creighton was saying earlier anyway. It's that word retained that, in our opinion, purposely seemed to create yet another loophole for lawyer legislators to exploit.

Todd Rutherford first started appearing on Russell's behalf in the spring of 2023. It is not clear when he was hired, but in the spring of 2023. It is not clear when he was hired, but in the spring of 2023, Russell's charge was about a year old. Chief Justice Kittredge seems to be saying that this exception to the Rutherford special applies to cases where defendants with charges older than two years might try to tag in a lawyer legislator to further extend the delay.

So that's fun, right? Can't wait to see how that one plays out. Here is what Rutherford said next. Your Honor obviously has the ability to schedule anything, but in terms of us agreeing that this is the proper date for it, when as your honor knows, there are cases that I have all over the state that are older than April of 2022. And just my personal objection to prosecutors jumping the gun and saying, hey, let me get a date certain for that case

when we should be proceeding with oldest moving forward to newest. This is one of the newest cases that I have at two year mark. And as it relates to the trial of any case, to newest, this is one of the newest cases that I have at two year mark. And as it relates to the trial of any case, there are a lot of issues. You've been tried and convicted, overturned on appeal, we're back at a point where even if we are looking to set a trial date, there's no reason to set it for next year.

We can do it in March, there are calls, we all get on the call. We all come down here again. That's not an issue of us getting back together. It's more just being ready, being prepared, and knowing the case that we're going to move forward on and saying that yes, we're ready to do all that. We would respectfully request that we delay setting a trial date until mid-part of next year we have more information on what the feds are going to do and exactly where we are. And that brings us to the next delay tactic that the defense deployed. Why are we rushing this when Russell is going to be tried federally in March? Isn't it funny how defense attorneys like Todd Rutherford and Mark Moore rely so heavily on accordion arguments?

Meaning they push the accordion in for state court. Russell will be tried in federal court in March. Calm down, everyone, March. And then they expanded out for federal court. Oh, March is way, way too early, and we're busy. Let's do May. What about June, right? It's trickery all the time.

On Monday, the prevailing argument against setting a trial date for Russell was basically, why? What's a rush? It's not even necessary. Let's see what the feds are going to do. So basically, the same arguments they had in 2023. Russell is really paying for recycled material here. Anyways, Team Russell really wants the court to regard Russell's federal case as enough. In the meantime, Creighton is like, no, I think we should make Russell's state case a three-part situation. Three trials, y'all. One for each of the indictments, which are in different counties. Creighton said he would likely start

with a Badger case in Allendale County, and he told the court that he expects that to take two weeks. After Todd made his arguments against setting a trial date, Mark Moore took over the accordion. And told us that there are, I think, four to five potential hard drives that the federal government hasn't reviewed yet that they may be reviewing and may be getting some information in the next couple of weeks.

Based on what I'm told, we may want to review those even if they don't bring other charges because there may be exculpatory evidence there with respect to both the federal charge and the state charge. Um, what? Four to five potential hard drives that the federal government has not reviewed yet? I have no idea what a potential hard drive is, and I can't trust that Mark Maher isn't using these potential hard drives to give the court a reason to further delay justice here. But let's pretend he's right.

How? In one of the biggest criminal cases in the history of South Carolina with the biggest spotlight on it that South Carolina lawyers have ever seen in their lives, how did it come to pass that there is any overlooked evidence? Mark Moore also indicated that the government intends to conduct more interviews in Russell's

case. So things could get interesting. We cannot wait to see what happens there. Mark Moore then took the opportunity to lay the groundwork for what would be their next line of attack after Russell's federal trial, whenever that ends up being. These charges are very similar to the federal charges. I'm not going to get on my high horse about the fairness of having competing federal and state prosecutions based on substantially the same evidence. Obviously, you can gather that I have some opinions about that and that may be the subject of motions at some point.

We're not ready to do that at this point, Your Honor. But I don't understand the reason for the state wanting a trial date, particularly given the fact that Mr. Lofi is almost certainly going to trial before June on charges that are substantially similar to on charges that are substantially similar to the charges that say he could file. Mark Moore was also like, we have one more issue regarding setting a trial date, Your Honor. We might ask for a change of venue. In other words, you keep trying to set a date and we're going to keep double teaming you with excuses. For Creighton's part, he was

like, can we just get a date on the books and adjust if we need to? The judge decided to request two weeks in October for Russell's first state trial. Now, two more things were discussed Monday. The little issue of whether Russell should wear one GPS monitor on his ankle or two. Mark Moore told the court that Russell had trouble sleeping with two ankle monitors on, which, cry us a river. You know who has trouble sleeping? People who don't have money because the local banker they trusted allegedly helped their lawyer steal it. Anyway, the judge said he thinks it's ridiculous to require two, like last time, and told Creighton and Team Russell to work that

out. So no more overaccessorizing for Russell. Let's call that his second win. You know, winning something Team Murdock never really got to experience. Okay, and then there was the last issue. The Get Russell's Money Game Show, where Mark Moore and Todd Rutherford tried to get paid. Apparently, our friend Russell has as much as $12 million in assets. Now, Mark and Todd assert that Russell has a Sixth Amendment right to counsel, and that's why he should get his assets unfrozen to pay them. Creighton was like, right, but he's going to have a bunch of restitution to pay probably, so I'd like the court to have a bunch of restitution to pay probably, so I'd like

the court to have some oversight of how this money is spent. And he is right, because talk about hungry, hungry hippos. That money would be eaten up by Russell's legal team if they had their way and could delay his trial until, I don't know, the year 2072. Judge Taylor told both sides to submit the details of their proposals for getting Russell's sum of his money freed. And that is where everything was left off. We'll keep you posted about the latest.

So, like the Murdoch story, the J.P. Miller story never stops. While Solid Rock might have changed its name and location to a place in Myrtle Beach literally called the Rat Hole, the drama, tension, and toxicity spewing from J.P. Miller's churchy business has not. Just as Vermeika protesters have moved their efforts to the Rat Hole, and of course, an incident occurred this weekend that we need to talk about briefly,

because it shows once again, how much grace the Horry County Police is still giving to JP Miller, despite the massive and expensive headache that he has given them. Here is David reading the first page from that police report. Here is David reading the first page from that police report. reference to an assault. Upon my arrival, I spoke with multiple people on scene who advised me that a vehicle had swerved toward one of them while they were protesting. The victim claimed that the vehicle belonged to the suspect and she recognized him in the

vehicle. She stated that she saw the vehicle approaching and held up a sign to protest. When the vehicle got closer to her, she stated that it swerved toward her. She stated she had to move back to avoid being hit. She also stated that another protester filmed a video of the incident across the street. After the vehicle swerved toward her, the suspect drove away. Another protester also stated that they had gotten the temporary license plate from the vehicle. The temporary license plate shows that it is registered

to a church and has the same address as the suspect's listed address. Okay, so multiple witnesses told police the truck swerved toward the protester and the victim identified JP as the driver. This should not be a hard case to crack, especially given the amount of phones recording video at these protests. But I've learned to never underestimate the incompetence of the Horry County Police. Officer Thornton wrote in his report that he viewed one of those videos and it was hard to tell how close the video was

to the victim and it was impossible to see who was driving based on that one video that he saw at the scene, he couldn't press charges, which is fair. The video that surfaced online definitely shows a truck driving recklessly around protesters. But you really couldn't see who was driving that truck from that video. Thornton then wrote in his report that all of the witnesses on scene were a part of the

protest. Therefore, they were all biased, which is sort of fair. However, the officer did not appear to ask anyone else for video or photo evidence of the incident. Someone on scene could have had a picture of JP or whoever driving the truck. And while it is fair to determine that all protesters and pretty much anyone with a brain capable of understanding the very basics of Micah's story is probably biased against J.P. Miller. But photo and video evidence are not biased. From this report, it doesn't look like the officer

tried to get the other protesters' evidence of the incident. He mentioned that there was a camera at the business close to where the incident occurred, but he said that that business was closed. One would think that the officer maybe would have waited until Monday to see if he could get video of the incident from that business's camera because businesses usually have operating cameras when they aren't open. But nope, it looks like from this report he just went from that one video that he got from a TikToker on scene.

He did this instead of doing real police work to determine what happened by tracking down all the available video evidence. Thornton pulled a classic good old boy and decided to spend his taxpayer funded time going to JP's house to get his side of the story. JP wasn't home at the time, but agreed to speak with him over the phone.

Here is David reading the last part of Thornton's report. I also went to the suspect's residence to speak with him. The suspect was not home at the time of me being there, but did inform me that he would speak with me over the phone. I informed him that we were investigating the incident that occurred with a truck leaving the area of the temporary church. He stated that he was not in a truck and was crouched down in another vehicle while someone else drove. The suspect also stated that the individual driving the truck was an elderly male who had dropped his phone causing him to reach down and swerve by accident.

Based on the information provided and the video being insufficient evidence for assault, this case will be administratively closed. Nothing further. Well, phew. There is a lot to unpack there, but I'll keep it short. First of all, I love how when J.P. Miller lies, he still manages to look like a cowardly creep, crouch down in the backseat of another vehicle while someone else drove outside of his own churchy business, while his own congregation, or what's left of them,

have to face the protesters while entering and exiting JP's churchy business. And JP is just cool to crouch. But also, how did JP know so quickly what was going on inside another vehicle that he wasn't in. Why didn't the officer ask him the name of the elderly man who was driving and why they were driving a truck registered to JP's church? Context is everything. As we always say, in the context here is that JP Miller has a documented history of not only habitual lying but reckless driving,

but also reckless driving. This week, Liz found a new tool on South Carolina's website where you can search someone's statewide driving record if you know their name and birthday. We searched JP Miller's and Guy's. We found 56 tickets, dating back to the 1990s. But 56. Five of those were in 2024. How this man still has a driver's license and why the officer didn't do a tiny bit of

background checking on this is beyond me. Well, we know why he can still drive. Because his lawyer-legislator attorney has swayed the few others do with the courts. Among JP's many, many concerning driving traffic incidents over the last years, we have to remind y'all that in 1998, he pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature when he intentionally hit a woman with his truck at a high rate of speed twice. He hit the woman and the second time she flew onto the hood of his truck while JP drove a fourth of a mile before suddenly hitting his brakes and flinging her off the vehicle, according

to the indictment. JP was of course pardoned from this charge and claims that he didn't understand what he was doing when he pleaded guilty and got probation. But all of this is to say that this man has a history of driving dangerously. And at least one time, his dangerous driving severely injured a woman. Horry County Police as those in charge who take millions of dollars in tax money every year for the purpose of public safety they should be extremely concerned about JP Miller right now especially when he's behind a wheel. As

we have said before we are worried about what JP Miller will do next. JP and Ellic Murdoch share a lot in common, but they both are men who spent two decades dancing around the rules and getting away with whatever mess they got into. Men like JP and Ellic, when faced with an ounce of pressure threatening accountability, they behave in irrational and dangerous ways.

No one would have ever predicted what Elec Murdoch did in September 2021, right after he realized that he was getting caught for both stealing the millions of dollars from his clients and for the murders of Maggie and Paul. I promise you, staging a shooting suicide with a man named Cousin Eddie was on no one's bingo card, because it's so nonsensical. A person thinking rationally would never believe that staging a suicide shooting

would get anyone out of anything. But people like JP and Elec, they don't use logic in those situations. I say this because I really want to urge every protester to be careful when in JP Miller's proximity. There is no telling what this man would or wouldn't do. We support the effort to keep JP Miller on his toes and feeling the pressure of protesters, which he absolutely deserves. However, no

lives are worth losing over JP Miller. I didn't know Micah, but I don't think that she would want anyone else getting hurt in pursuit of justice in her name. So please be peaceful and do not poke the bear. It is never worth it. Tis the season for shopping and with Rakuten, it's also the season for stacking up the savings. Use Rakuten to stack cash back at hundreds of stores on top of holiday sales. That's like savings on savings.

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check. It truly is a no-brainer. Join for free at rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.ca. Now, we need to talk about Micah and what might have happened between the time that she arrived at her apartment on April 27th to head to work and the time that she arrived at Dick's pawn shop

to purchase a gun. Last week, we told you how we were closer than ever to figuring out what exactly J. P. Miller was hiding about the day that Micah died. We untangled a concerning web of his statements made about how he allegedly found out that his estranged wife Micah had died and how exactly he said that he was told that her death was a suicide before the medical examiner made their official ruling. It was an exhausting, tedious, and comprehensive search.

Ultimately, it boiled down to one simple conclusion. J.P. Miller has not been entirely truthful about what he knows happened to Micah leading up to her death, and we need to find out why. As we said in episode 77, JP has given us a trail of clues pointing at this conclusion in big and small ways. We're not going to revisit every single one, but we do want to go over a few of them and add a couple to the list.

Because we believe that the answer exists in what we already know. Remember the way that JP claimed that someone at the hospital told him it was a suicide? Remember in the News Nation interview how much JP danced around that one simple question? Who called you to tell you that Micah died and what did they say? Remember when we spoke to Micah's best friend, Charlotte, in episode 51 and she said the day after Micah's death she had spoken to JP and he said something to her like that he noticed that Micah was on her way

to Lumberton on that day. And Charlotte said that he spoke in a way that indicated to her he knew that Micah went to Dick's pawn shop. And in real time, she knew that he was on her way to Lumberton and he was wondering if Micah had been on her way to see Charlotte in Virginia. Then there's the way that he sent Micah's family a text hours after she was found dead saying quote, good job, Francis family. This is what happens when you encourage someone to divorce the person they love.

Notice the word divorce there, right? The very first words weren't, you prevented her from getting help, which was his shtick, in the months after Micah's death. But rather, Micah died because you encouraged her to leave me and this is a result of her trying to leave me. Why was he so worried about placing the blame of Micah's death onto someone else if he truly believed that Micah killed herself as a result of an ongoing diagnosis.

And why was he so insistent on doing the sermon the very next morning? And why was he so quick to announce to his entire congregation that his wife died of suicide? How is it that after all of this time that JP has threatened to reveal 350 pieces of evidence to support his side? His side being that Micah died as a result of her mental health issues and not because

of anything that he might have done. And after all of the interviews that he has given, he hasn't given us one real concrete piece of information about his alibi the day that Micah died. We know where his truck was up until 2.22pm, but beyond that? Heck, we don't even know if he was actually in Charleston on the morning of Micah's death. If he was at a soccer game like he said he was, well, I would think that the parents on that team would have noticed JP's obnoxious presence and said something by now. Now, we recently received new information that could be the missing clue to explain

both JP's odd behavior and why Micah's day suddenly shifted on April 27th, 2024. More on that after a quick break. So there's that element. JP's increasingly bizarre and desperate seeming behavior, post-Mica's death, all adds up to something, right? And yes, it turns out that he did have a lot to hide about what led up to the day of Mica's death. The day of her death.

But what about the moment of her death? What about the hours between when she left her apartment on April 27th, ready to go to work with her lunch packed, and when she allegedly killed herself that afternoon? What happened then? That is the thing that has always eluded us. In what looks like mere minutes, Micah went from being a woman who had made this giant step in her mission to not only end her marriage but end 15 years of alleged coercive control,

from the time she was a child to her 30th year. Just two days prior to her death, she had served JP with a second set of divorce papers. She had changed her number again, she had just paid her car taxes, she now had a car that was purchased after her separation from JP, meaning he could no longer get away with telling police that it was marital property or take it from her legally. According to a source, Micah had also been re-baptized to wash away the ick of her marriage. By all accounts, she was excited for her new life

and she had a renewed resolve when it came to how she was dealing with JP. So that's our baseline for Micah for that afternoon. According to the ring camera video at her apartment, we know she left in the morning for a little bit, came back and she appeared to have gotten ready for work because the next time we saw her on camera, she was in her work uniform.

She had her things for work and she was listening to a sermon by Dr. Henry Cloud called Necessary Endings, which is about new beginnings. And the next time we saw her on camera was buying the gun 34 minutes later. Micah lived about 20 minutes from her work at J. Peter's Bar and Grill. She left her apartment at 11.38 a.m. for her noon shift,

but she lived just 11 minutes from Dick's pawn shop, which was between her apartment and her workplace. Given the timeline, it appears Micah had gotten almost to work or did in fact get to work. And then something caused her to double back to dicks. Now, a lot of people, including us, have considered the idea that Micah was convinced somehow to meet someone in North Carolina

and that that is why she bought the gun, for protection. But there are so many moving parts to that theory. One, who would be powerful enough to summon her like that? To get her to ditch work? Remember, Beth Brayden called Jay Peters shortly after Micah's death and spoke with the manager. Micah didn't call it sick, she just didn't show up. Two, what was powerful enough to get her to drive to North Carolina with her newly purchased gun? How would she have been lured there? Was it a guy who wanted to take her shooting?

Which wasn't really allowed at that park? Did she believe someone she loved to be in trouble? Did she think someone she cared about needed a gun and she was helping them by making a straw purchase? We talk about AI and its potential connections to this case. Did someone trick her using AI? In our opinion, unfortunately, it is all wishful thinking. We don't want to believe that someone who had a new lease on life would kill herself after taking these monumental steps toward freedom. And after more than seven months of meticulously going through the paperwork of Micah's life, we all have very serious doubts about JP's version of Micah and her mental health, and we have very serious concerns

about his ability to marshal the police and use the state's mental health care system as a weapon to control Micah. So we want to believe she didn't kill herself. And again, that 20 minute drive to work, what could have been serious enough to make Micah think there was no hope for her? What would have been big enough that it could be considered a final straw? So we have plenty of evidence of JP threatening Micah, right? We've covered so much of it in our earlier episodes about

this. He threatened her when she went to her sister Ciara's house in November 2022. He threatened to tell Micah's best friend Charlotte about Micah's answer to a question about a threesome. Earlier this year, JP's right-hand woman, with JP in the background of the phone call to 911, falsely reported Micah for stealing and then delayed pressing charges for a while, appearing to hold it over Micah's head. I could go on. We have plenty of allegations of him, including of him and others following her and tracking her. And despite it all, Micah persevered every time. She stood up for herself, she sought help, she put one foot in front

of the other, she got the money she needed to finally file divorce papers again. Micah was breaking free. So could someone have threatened Micah on her drive to work? Or threatened her family? Of course. And that might be the case. Maybe she thought removing herself from the equation would save others. But a more likely scenario is that something Micah would have regarded as unsalvageable happened. Something that she would have viewed that any reasonable person who says they've experienced years of mental abuse and coercive control at the hands of a spouse would have viewed as the end of the line. Now again, JP has denied all allegations that have been made against

him as they concern Micah, and he has never been charged with any crime in connection to his relationship with Micah. But let's talk about that ick in her marriage. One thing to keep in mind here is this, and these are words that were used by a source close to the situation that really resonate with us. History repeats itself. And that is certainly true of so many of JP's behaviors. It's true of how he handled his marriages. It's true of how he conducted himself in his divorce. It's true of his adult son who seems to be so very much like JP. And it's true of JP's father, Wayne Miller, who has a long history

of legal troubles, a criminal background, and a divorce that seems like it could have been a playbook for JP given the similarities. We've told you about the patterns that we keep seeing. So here's some of the ick according to Micah's list, and I'm going to read from the list but just the parts that apply here. JP forced her to submit to humiliating sexual acts that disgusted and that hurt her. He would tell her she was mentally ill and have her hospitalized against her will.

JP uploaded a semi nude photo of his wife to the internet and later apologized in an email and attempted to minimize the damage by stating it was quote, only up for an hour. While she was hospitalized, JP demanded that she have sex with him while she lay in the hospital bed. JP forced her to perform sexual acts against her will and demanded that she watch him in sexual acts with others

and forced her to sit still so that others could touch her body against her will. JP told her and quote, preached on Sunday that if she did not submit to his every request for sex in any manner he desired, then it was her fault if he got his needs fulfilled by another woman or man. When she worked at the church, JP would randomly fire her for quote, disobeying him and then he would hire her back if she agreed to certain sexual acts or some other list of demands. JP took her cell phone and sent texts to her family and friends pretending to be her. JP sent emails and texts from her accounts

to church members and her family pretending to be her quote admitting she was doing bad things. His attempt to disgrace her name. JP got access to her technology, changed her passwords, took over her accounts and hacked her social media, her iCloud, cell phone and email. He posted on her social media feed

and then tore it down and locked her out of the account. Okay, so again, according to Micah's list and confirmed to us by other sources, there was a theme in Micah's marriage surrounding this idea of her feeling forced to participate in sexual acts that she otherwise would not have engaged in without that alleged coercion. Add to that the accusations that JP would give Micah pills that she

had no choice but to take. Now, I want to take a quick pause for us to all get on the same page here. Think about everything else that you have learned about JP, either through his interviews, his weird sermon after Micah's death, his twitchiness with the protesters, his repeated displays of lacking impulse control. When he gets emotional, JP has shown us that he seems to act in reckless ways. If you watched the press conference that was held right after the settlement was announced between JP, the church, and the Francis family, remember how JP repeatedly paced around and visually reacted to what was being said by the lawyers?

His other lawyers stood by him and it looked like they had to keep him in check. If you didn't see the press conference, think of the most unruly kid in your class growing up and how they seemingly had no ability to stay still or shut up. That is JP, even just from our own observations. What's the other thing that we know about JP? Oh, right, when Micah did something that he didn't like, there was a reaction, and not an equal reaction. It was the kind of reaction that ended up

with the police being called or Micah getting humiliated in front of the church through his pointed and inappropriate sermons, or humiliated in front of the church through his pointed and inappropriate sermons or humiliated in front of her friends. Remember those texts to Charlotte that JP sent in November, 2022? Or it ended up in squabbles with her family.

Or it ended with her getting involuntarily hospitalized. There was an unequal reaction and usually one that ended up hurting Micah in a real way. The other thing that we know about JP is that he talks a lot. And in the months leading up to Micah's death, he talked a lot. To his congregation, to the people in his life.

He was on a smear campaign, panning Micah out to be mentally incapacitated, a thief and a disloyal harlot who broke up marriages. Remember that call with the young male church member who was caught by JP's private attorney hanging out on the beach with Micah on March 11th, the day that JP says changed everything? JP essentially told him that Micah was a temptress, and if JP was some innocent, powerless man who got caught up in Micah's world in 2015, rather than a creepy preacher who preyed on a young

woman who looked an awful lot like his wife at the time. Okay, that's our first three baselines for our theory. One, Micah was doing well and on a positive path on the day that she died. Two, according to multiple sources, Micah felt shame over the sex acts. And she said JP forced her participation in sex acts that sometimes involved other people. And three, we know JP's pathology

of having minimal impulse control and a pattern of reacting to Micah being, in his eyes, disobedient to him. Now, let's add a fourth baseline to our theory. According to Micah and other sources, JP had possession of sexually explicit photos and videos of Micah, and this was something that really worried her.

Remember that 911 call Micah made at almost 4am from the Buckees in Florence, South Carolina on February 7th when she was trying to wait out the involuntary hospitalization order that JP was somehow able to secure? Micah was rightfully angry about the position JP had put her in and she seemed worried about what else he might do. She called the police and asked them to do a wellness check on JP. We think part of why she phrased it that way was to see if police would be as hop to it with her as they always seemed to be with JP. And part of it was to see if police would be as hop-to-it with her as they always seemed to be with JP. And part of it was to show JP that two can play that game.

But the primary reason for the call was that she wanted police to tell her who was at their house. The majority of the call is her worrying about the fate of the sexually explicit content that JP had of her? there's no cars parked at my house that I don't recognize the license plate of, or if you just take down those license plate numbers for me to review later, just to do a wellness check and also maybe even pursue the property that I'm saying has naked pictures of me on it. Yeah, I just want to make sure that that laptop just doesn't end up in the wrong hand. Okay. So who has a laptop with your pictures on it?

It's in my home, but I currently have guests staying at my home that I did not invite there. And so I'm kind of concerned that while I'm out of town, they might use that laptop for mal purposes. I don't I don't 100 percent know who's there right now. But if it's who I think is there, maybe my husband's son who hit on me the other day in my kitchen without my husband there and I I told him flat out this isn't appropriate and you need to leave. And that's on record because he texted my husband and I told my husband what happened and he might be staying at my house and my husband's sister's been staying with us and I did not invite her

to stay with us and I don't trust her further than I can throw her with my property that have naked pictures of me on it. I just need a wellness check yeah I just need a wellness check take Yeah, I just need a wellness check. Take the license plate of anybody that's there right now because I might not recognize them and they might be invited into my home without me while I was away. But I just want to make sure nothing weird is going on in my house and also to retrieve property that's got naked pictures of me on it. And actually there's two laptops. There's two laptops that have naked pictures.

Okay, like I said, I'll have the officer give you a call when Micah once again turned to the police police officer. I can't give you legal advice, but that's something you can ask the officer, okay?" Then there was the police report from April 8th when Micah once again turned to the police for help and once again was told there was nothing they could do for her. Micah told them that JP had posted a topless photo of her on a Facebook group page called Big Boobs and Curves and to make sure that Micah knew he had done this, he tagged her in the photo. The photo was posted anonymously, which the officer spelled anomalously. The responding officer told her that because of that and the fact that her nipples were blurred, they couldn't do anything and they incorrectly informed her that when you send someone a photo, that makes the recipient of the photo the owner of the photo. In other words, 19 days before her death, Micah received a pretty bleak message about what happens when you report your estranged

spouse for doing something like that. So, on April 27th, Micah had had enough experience with police to understand that there was never anything they seemed to be able to do for her. The court had rejected her request for a restraining order and were told that's likely because she had gone to JP's house sometime before the hearing and that JP had likely used that against her, which we'll talk more about another time because the way courts handle restraining orders leaves no room for women experiencing emotional and mental abuse from their partners. That said, Micah would have likely been understandably jaded on the day of her death.

The police helped her 0% according to the reports. So what happened during that drive to work? Take all of those baselines and now let's imagine that Micah was sent something on her way to work. Whatever she was sent would have had to have been major, right? Something that would have caused her to feel like her life was ruined. Something that felt like game over. What kinds of things would feel that way to a young Christian woman who, according to

a source, had recently been rebaptized to wash away the sins of the alleged sexual abuse she had experienced in her marriage? From what we understand, there was one sexually explicit video of Micah, one that JP was not visible in, in particular, that was in JP's possession at some point in the lead up to Micah's death. This was a video that was taken while they were married, and it's one that, if it does exist as we're told it does, would have qualified as one of the examples mentioned on Micah's list, which again, said she felt forced to perform sex acts that involved others. We're also told

that it's a video that JP understood held power over Micah and that it's a video that any woman out there would fear being posted online. To be clear, we're not making accusations here and again JP denies all wrongdoing when it comes to his relationship with Micah. What we're saying is this. For months now, we have been laser focused behind the scenes on finding out what happened on the way to work that day to cause Micah to turn around and drive to Dix for a gun. We have also wondered why Micah would have chosen a random swamp in North Carolina to kill herself.

Nothing added up, right? JP wants us all to believe that this was the inevitable end of her life. That Micah was inherently suicidal and inherently mentally unwell rather than suicidal and mentally unwell because of circumstance. But at the same time, his first words to her family seem to say, this is a result of her trying to leave me. It's hard to look at a suicide where the victim is someone who explicitly said, if I'm found dead, it's because my husband killed me, and not think that there's not something else going on here.

Even when we're presented with evidence of Micah buying that gun. And it's hard to believe it's a suicide when you consider we don't believe that JP's alibi is as rock solid as the police do. And we'll say it again, when you consider he seems like from every angle to be a man who is hiding something. So we're simply asking a question here. Did serving JP with divorce papers again set JP off? And if it did, did he resort to behavior that we've seen from him in the past? And could that behavior have included what might have been considered the worst-case scenario for a woman like Micah? Because a woman like Micah, young, broke, tired, trying her best every day, mustering the courage to fight every day, looking for the silver lining in the light at the end of the tunnel, trying to build a new church

life with a new church family, and trying like hell to forget a past that haunted her. Wouldn't just not like to see a sexually explicit video of herself posted somewhere online, it would have had the potential to bring that woman to her knees. A woman like Micah, who found no help from police every time she reported her estranged husband for stalking and harassment, might have had nothing left in her mental reserves as she were to see that a sexually explicit video of her had been posted somewhere online. Meaning, she might not have had any fight left

to find out how to get such a video taken down, to find out who might have seen the video, to figure out if her friends, her family, her new pastor, her new church knew about it. A woman like Micah might think this is never going to end. I'm never going to get away from this. There will always be a threat hanging over me. People call it revenge porn, but that is not the right term for it at all. It doesn't

capture the victimization of it, and it almost assigns a justification to it. Like, there's something righteous about the revenge. Like, it's an equal and opposite reaction to something the victim of the posting did to the person posting it. Posting sexually explicit content that involves a person who has not consented to it being posted means that person who didn't consent has lost complete and total control over her own body, the one thing in this world that should be completely and totally hers. And there is no way to describe the utter pain and helplessness a person experiences when they have no say in the matter of who views their body and when. and when.

So, again, we're just asking questions. This is not an accusation. But could the video, the video that we didn't hear about until recently, could that be the missing link that at least would make the events leading up to Micah's death fall into place in a way that finally makes sense? Did Micah find out that something had been posted online in some capacity? For instance, this video that we are told exists.

Was that the thing that happened to her on her way to work? And was that why Robeson County Sheriff's Office seemed to question JP like he was a suspect? Could that be why the FBI is involved? According to a friend of Micah's, this was a significant fear of Micah's. In April, shortly before her death, Micah even talked about how much it weighed on her. She wanted a new church family and feared that no church would want her because of what JP had on her. And this wasn't an unfounded fear. According to sources, including Micah's list,

And to sources, including Micah's list, JP had already called one of her new pastors to talk about Micah and her family. But more than that, according to the friend, Micah feared that JP would use these sexually explicit photos and videos to sabotage her at any church that she tried to go to. Her friend said Micah told her quote quote, "'I feel like an orphan,' and that she felt stuck and scared and embarrassed." So on that fateful drive to work on April 27th, did Micah discover that her worst fear had come true? And is that what made her go to Dick's pawn shop?

Is that what made her hastily choose North Carolina? And did she choose North Carolina because she thought crossing state lines meant that JP, her estranged husband with all his powerful ties to police, would have no right to her body? That police in North Carolina would have to research her and would see that she was divorcing her husband, was this Mica's final act to show that she, not JP, was in control of her own body. Because when she called 911, it was her body that seemed to concern Mica Francis the most. On the day of the FBI raid at JP's house in November, nearly two dozen agents were

there, including their forensics crime team. The assistant US attorney was also there. It was such an unusually strong but welcomed showing for allegations about a charge of interstate domestic violence, right? It seemed like they needed a big team to find whatever it is they are looking for. And we hope they did. Stay tuned, stay pesky, 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 to 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 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 Cheryl 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 accountable. Search for Cup of Justice wherever you get your podcast or visit cupofjusticepod.com.