Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #85 - JP Miller’s War Against Protesters Heats Up: 28 Lawsuits Filed + A Deranged 911 Call

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell continue shining sunlight on the Mica Francis story.  On today’s episode, a former church member being sued by JP Miller turns the tables on him with a fiery counterclaim. According to court filings, THREE DAYS before Mica’s death, JP asked this church member to write “Dedicated to Mica” on the website of the church’s Dare2Care program, a mission that was important to Mica. Was this unfortunate timing? Or does this point to something more nefarious? The former church member also accuses JP of using his pulpit to shame and bully Mica and of retaliation after the church member and his wife decided they’d had enough of him and left the church. Also on the show, in one of the most deranged calls to 911 yet, JP tells police that protesters are yelling the 'n-word' at church members and could “pull a gun” at any minute and he describes them as blondes, wearing sweaters and no makeup.  Was this JP setting the stage for the lawsuits he filed five days later? Plus, an update in the Sara Lynn Colucci case and Christa Bauer case. This episode gets deeper into these very twisted stories...  Let's dive in... 🥽🦈  Episode Resources Stephen Smith’s GoFundMe Stephen Nicholas Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund Sara Lynn Colucci Case Overview “Help With Legal Defense Fund for Melissa and Sandra” GoFundMe Premium Documents: Lee Gilley’s Charging Instrument + Complaint - Oct 11, 2024 Sam Rickman’s Magistrate Court Summons and Complaint - Jan 10, 2025 Sam Rickman’s Counterclaim - Jan 27, 2025 JP Miller’s Notice of Deposition - Jan 27, 2025 Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ 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. Premium Members also get access to ad-free listening, 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. What We're Buying... Eric Bland's New Book!!! - Mandy's Book in Paperback!! - Amanda Knox's New Book Boll & Branch Sheets - http://bollandbranch.com/mandy Change the way you sleep with Boll & Branch. Get 15% off, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets. Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn *** 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: bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com | bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com 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

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stands for total fund savings adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. or maybe reach out to TV Direct Investing. I don't know what Judge Christopher Arrakis is going to do about JP Miller's recent legal terrorism. But after JP and his solid rock cronies have filed more than two dozen lawsuits against Justice for Micah protesters, Judge Arrakis should be angry and embarrassed at this attempt to make a mockery of the court system. And if he cares about the integrity of the system

and his reputation, he will put a stop to this. 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. As always, breaking news came in as we were finishing this episode. Because somehow we managed to find an even messier and peskier legal terrorist who somehow makes Elick Murdoch look organized and restrained.

We will talk more about this in a second, but JPMiller's churchy stands filed 14 lawsuits against protesters on Wednesday. And I just want to start the show by asking all of our pesky army out there to help these people who are being buried in unfair legal fees right now. Because it will likely take months for this to get settled and we know how fast those legal bills add up. I'm asking y'all to first of all donate to the GoFundMe for protesters listed in the description. We will be donating this month's Merch with a Mission proceeds to the Justice for Micah GoFundMe on top of our initial donation.

I've been talking to the women who are being sued and they are terrified. Some of them are facing four lawsuits each, and we all need to send a message back to JP and his friends and let them know that no one can be sued into silence. The protesters also need legal help. While some of them have attorneys fighting for them, any South Carolina attorneys willing to help the cause pro bono, please email info at lunasharkmedia.com and we will pass on your information to the protesters. Finally, we are asking all of you to do what you do best.

Make noise. Share your outrage on social media. Make TikTok videos. Post links and tag every media outlet in South Carolina. Tag attorneys, judges, lawmakers, everyone. JP and his churchy business bros are attacking the First Amendment in South Carolina and they are using the dirtiest legal moves to silence those who are speaking out against them. This is serious and we need our entire pesky army on this. Before we get into the show, a friendly reminder that we have an amazing growing community

of pesky people all at Lunashark Premium. This work would not be possible without the support of our paid subscribers and I can't thank you all enough for your financial and moral support. We hope you all are enjoying the recent episodes of Girl Talk, which is a beautifully honest and unfiltered glimpse of Liz and me processing life one call at a time. Oh, and we cannot wait to hang out with y'all tonight for Pesky Picks, where we will discuss

the Amanda Knox documentary, one of my favorites, and have a live Q&A with our listeners. Sign up for premium today. You will not regret it. Also, I wanna take a moment to celebrate Stephen Smith's birthday along with his twin Stephanie. He would have been 29 years old today. And while he is not here with us,

Stephen is known around the world as a bright nursing student who pursued a dream of becoming a doctor one day. He loved cats, he loved his family and friends, and he loved his mom, Sandy. Though Stephen was not able to attend medical school, the Stephen Smith Scholarship set up by his mom in his name will help others get there.

Stephen left this earth too soon, but he left a legacy that will hopefully change many lives for the better. If you would like to do something nice today, consider clicking the link in the description to donate to that scholarship fund. Or consider donating to the Independent Investigation Fund, which has been reactivated. Both worthy causes we stand by. David has something else he would like to remind our lawmakers who might be listening.

I'd like to remind lawmakers in South Carolina of another upcoming anniversary this year. This July will mark 10 years since Stephen Smith's death on a dark stretch of Sandy Run Road in Hampton, South Carolina. 10 years of Sandy being told geese. 9 years of investigation stalling because they did not get responses to emails. 10 years of agencies saying answers are around the corner. 4 years of being questioned about other homicides to rule out samaritans. 10 years of being questioned about other homicides

to rule out Sandy as a suspect. Four years since Sled reopened Stephen's case because of what was found during the Murdoch murders investigation. Four years of Sled Chief Keele saying that Stephen's case is a priority. Two years of Attorney General Alan Wilson telling Sandy to her face that Stephen's case is a priority.

Two years of state law enforcement agents questioning five very specific individuals who have information and sharing nothing with Sandy as they claim their investigation is still open. Ten years of South Carolina putting Steven's case on the back burner. In the spirit of, quote, shaking things up, as Alan seems to be applauding recently, we suggest Attorney General Alan Wilson

and Sled Chief Keele shake things up in their own way by sharing what they know with Sandy and her team of independent investigators. Because it doesn't seem like their method has been very successful. And maybe that's by design. As we know from our Corruption Watchlist series on Lunashark Premium, law enforcement is not infallible. And we know they rarely ask for help

when it could be so powerful and so helpful to victims. We plan to revisit Stephen's case throughout 2025. We plan to spend our own money advertising Stephen's unsolved homicide around the state to shake loose information. We plan to create events to celebrate Stephen's life unsolved homicide around the state to shake loose information. We plan to create events to celebrate Stephen's life and pressure those with knowledge of Stephen's death to come forward. And we invite Sled and the Attorney General's office to participate in those efforts.

We hope they'll invite Sandy to take a look at whatever they've done or not done to get justice for Stephen in the last 10 years. And maybe if law enforcement asked for help, we could get this thing solved to bring Sandy some peace. We are not stopping our efforts to find out what happened to Stephen, and we plan to hold anyone accountable that impeded his homicide investigation. Midterm elections in South Carolina are around the corner. And we intend to be vocal about who we think

is best equipped to get this job done. So stay tuned on that front, because we're just getting started. Because we're just getting started. Before we get into what is going to be a wild episode today, we have a few updates for you. The first is related to the Michael Colucci retrial which, like we've said before, has finally been set for June 2nd in Berkley County, South Carolina. Michael is being tried again for the 2015 murder of his wife Sarah Lynn Colucci who was strangled to death. Now Michael told police that Sarah

Lynn had died by suicide under a very weird seemingly implausible set of circumstances. He says Sarah Lynn tripped and fell into the loop of a garden hose that was hanging on the side of a fence as he sat 20 feet away in their car. Now, because of his family money and his connection to law enforcement, it took about a year for Michael to be charged. In 2018, his trial ended with a hung jury. That said, Sarah Lynn's daughter, Bishop Venters, who was a little girl when her mother was murdered, is now 21 years old. And she was recently contacted via a Facebook friend request from an account that appears to be that of Michael Kulich's girlfriend, Kelly Hauk. This is, of course, infuriating. Bishop has waited years for justice. She has had to live her life knowing that the man prosecutors

say killed her mother has been roaming free as if nothing happened. To have that man's girlfriend friend request Bishop is the modern day equivalent of that person knocking on Bishop's door, which is beyond creepy. And it raises questions about what this person's intent was in reaching out because it should be abundantly obvious that contacting the daughter of the woman your boyfriend is accused of murdering, a girl who may or may not be testifying in the case, could be seen as, I don't know, an attempt to intimidate a witness. On Wednesday morning, the attorney general's office told us that they are aware of the situation

and that even though the friend request is not a violation in and of itself, that Michael's attorney has been told about it and warned that this came close. Michael's attorney was also told that the attorney general will take action if this attempt at contact goes any further.

So our hearts are with Bishop as she continues to wait for justice to be served. June 2nd cannot come soon enough. Okay, one more update. This one is related to the Krista Bauer case out of Houston, Texas. As you know, Krista and her unborn baby were killed on October 8th while her husband and two young children, Maddie and Gannon, were in the house. Her husband, Lee Gillie, a barely employed mama's boy who seemed to have found comfort in the online arms of men's rights misogynists, told police that three hours after having

an argument with Krista, he found her body. He told them she had died by suicide. She didn't. According to prosecutors, Krista was strangled to death and guess who got charged with doing that three days later? A her husband. On Tuesday morning, Lee was scheduled to be arraigned, but that arraignment once again got postponed. Lee and his high-priced attorneys, including his high-profile attorney Dick DeGaron, who represented Robert Durst, i.e. the lawyer Robert hired because Robert had family money and Robert was guilty of doing some pretty heinous things.

Those attorneys don't want Lee to enter his plea until after he's been indicted. And he apparently can't be indicted until the autopsy report is in, according to Dick, whom Luna Shark reporter Beth Braden spoke with last week. According to Dick, this is an unusually long time for an autopsy report to be ready. We don't know if that's true

or if that's just Dick DeGaron, the defense attorney, already trying to muddy the waters for a future jury. Can't you just picture it? Why did the report take so long? Was it because the state was searching for a way to pin this on my clients? Lee's arraignment is now scheduled for 9am March 25th. In the meantime, he has a motion to inspect property, which is interesting. After Lee was arrested, on October 11th, he was held on no bond. That was before he hired his attorneys, who then secured him a $1 million bond that placed him under house arrest.

He was released on October 21st. On October 17th, the judge issued an order for Lee's bond and pretrial supervision. Since then, this order has been amended three times, which is really a testament to how fickle and un-thorough our court systems are because wow. In the first order, Lee was barred from contacting any member of Krista's family, including his two children, and he was barred from coming within 200 feet of the home he had shared with Krista and the children's daycare. Lee was also ordered to pay $6 a day for his GPS angled monitor and ordered to be at home wherever that home was to be between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. That was it. Though he was ordered to surrender his passport, there was no guideline for whether Lee, who like Krista and

her family is from South Carolina, could leave the state of Texas. Now, on November 20th, the judge revised that order. Lee was still barred from contacting any member of Krista's family, but now he could contact his two children if allowed by an order from family court. And he was now barred from leaving Texas unless he submitted a request to

travel to his supervising officer at least two business days before his travel date. Now, I'm not sure what happened between November 20th and the very next day, but the judge revised the order again. This time, the judge changed the process for how Lee could leave the state of Texas. That is to say, Lee could no longer leave upon submitting a request to his supervising officer. Now the court was telling him that he couldn't leave Texas and he wasn't allowed to ask the court for permission to leave. Then on January 17th, the court once again amended the order. This time the judge checked the boxes that barred Lee from using, possessing, or consuming marijuana

or any controlled substance without a prescription. And he must not use or possess a firearm. The judge further solidified that by barring Lee from possessing or using any weapons or ammunition. I don't know about you, but it seems to me like all of that should have been decided on day one. But then again, I'm not a judge being stared down by a smugged alleged murderer and his

tacky family decked in t-shirts that say Team Lee, along with his slick attorneys. I can see why a judge would be like, check, check, GPS monitor. Okay. Now team, see your nasty selves out of my courtroom. Oh, and one more gilly update. His attorneys are already tapping into that retainer with gusto. On January 22nd, they filed a motion to inspect property with the court. And it's curious. Their argument is this. Police searched the family home for evidence that Lee had killed Krista. If that evidence is material, in other words, relevant to the outcome of Lee's case, then Lee has a right to look at that evidence. Therefore, his team wants

the court to allow Lee to inspect the home, the one he's not allowed within 200 feet of, because, quote, the layout of the property, as well as the positioning of the complainant, is material to the prosecution's evidence and and defendant's defense. They say that it is imperative that Lee gets to see the layout of the home that he lived in. Quote, it is not the intention of the defense to damage or alter the property in any way. It is simply to inspect and photograph. Lee argues that his team is anticipating that the state will present crucial witnesses who will testify about the physical description of the inside and the outside of the home,

and if his team isn't allowed to inspect the home, then his lawyers will not be able to cross-examine those witnesses. Fair trial, due process, etc. etc. Which he is right, of course, defendants should get to inspect the evidence against them. But Lee did live there, so doesn't he already know what it looked like? Like I said, this is curious because we know so little about the investigation. What we do know from news reports is that Lee told police that he and Christa had gotten into an argument and three hours later he found her dead from a drug overdose.

When the medical examiner saw the state of Christa's body, they knew that this was not the truth. When confronted with that, Lee apparently admitted to police that Christa didn't take drugs nor did she kill herself, which means Lee Gillie has already allegedly changed his story once. He retrofitted it to the facts. So it's not a crazy question to wonder if that's what's happening here. What's his defense going to be? That someone broke into the house and killed Christo while he was mere feet away? What motive is he going to say existed for that? Does he

want access to the house so he can recreate that night through the eyes of an alleged burglar murderer? Because here's the thing, Krista and Lee lived in a cozy 2,000 square foot one floor house. As in all the bedrooms are on the same floor as all the other rooms in the house. The house doesn't appear to have a garage and it has fencing all around it, wrought iron fencing in front and a taller privacy fence in back, according to pictures from real estate websites and Google Maps. There's a driveway behind the fence, but it looks like from Google Maps that people were also able to park

outside of the fence on a small section of pavement. The house is in Houston Heights, which is a quiet, trendy, densely populated area. Anyway, we will keep you posted as this case continues to develop. We'll 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 B-L-A-N-D-R-I-C-H-T-E-R.com. Now, let's talk about JPMiller and those Pesty lawsuits. There are now 28, yes 28 lawsuits filed against Justice for Micah protesters, content creators, and former Solid Rock members who have spoken out against JP Miller. On Friday, JP added another defendant to the list, Tina Rini Mattingly. Then on Monday, one of JP's cases was dismissed just six days after he filed it against Joanna

Cimentelli, which is weird. So that makes 14 magistrate lawsuits filed by J.P. Miller in the last month. And then it got even weirder on Wednesday when three of J.P.'s churchie stands, his father Wayne Miller and two apparent solid rock members Dylan Mark Ferdin, who spelled his name Mark Fredding in court documents, and Christina Best filed a total of 14 lawsuits against five protesters. This is madness. And like I said at the beginning, please help them by donating to the GoFundMe

in the description, by offering legal help or by simply raising your voices on social media. Every bit counts. As of today's recording, defendants are still getting served with JP's bully papers. And more of them have hired attorneys to fight back. On Tuesday, at least one of the cases got postponed until February 26. Also one of the defendants filed a very fiery counterclaim with the help of attorney Regina

Ward herself. And we'll talk about that in a second. So as you know, JP has some kind of pathetic history with the small group of people who have gathered outside of his services week after week to protest his continued leadership at the church. According to one of the protesters, they had permits to gather outside of Solid Rock Church, which is in Myrtle Beach jurisdiction. And for other protests, the ones at other locations where JP was holding his super secret

spy-ish meetings, those were in unincorporated Horry County, which does not require permits for small gatherings. Since May, the protests have involved a number of JP confrontations. Over the summer, a church member was charged after he turned on a sprinkler on the protesters. And then there was another time someone erected two panels of vinyl privacy fencing in front of the church in what has to be the most cartoonish peekaboo attempt at trying to one-up the protesters. Oh, and let's not forget JP's arrest for putting his hands on a female protester this last fall, right after his house was raided by the FBI.

We have a stack of police reports since Micah's death, outlining JP's multiple attempts to paint the protesters as menacing and his multiple attempts to use the police to get people to stop saying that he's a bad person. In October, JP was able to convince Judge Christopher Arrakis, and again I'll spell that A-R-A-K-A-S, and someone please let me know how to say it, but he was being harassed by one man, and that was his neighbor, Jan Lancaster, who was also being sued in this go-around along with his girlfriend

for their TikTok content on this case. At first, I thought that JP's restraining order win with the same judge assigned to all these other cases meant bad news, because it looked like maybe JP had this judge in his pocket. But y'all, that restraining order case was wild and very complicated. And I hate to say it,

but the evidence in my opinion showed that both sides were wrong. We will get into that case in a later episode because there is a lot more when it comes to the blurred lines of content creators and journalists in this story. And evidence shows that Jan Lancaster and JP appeared to have a much chummier relationship last summer

than Jan made it look on social media. You cannot claim to be on Team Justice for Micah while simultaneously cozying up to her alleged abuser just to get exclusive content. Jan is on TikTok known as MyrtleBeachMedia, iPhone Guru, and MyrtleBeachOnline. I couldn't believe that he was still posting videos that appear to be taken from outside of JP's house

now that he has a restraining order and he appears to be completely unbothered by it. That said, there is a reason why we have only shared one GoFundMe link to help the victims in this case. And that is the one in the description. Jan's lawsuit should be entirely separate from the protestors' lawsuits in the former church members' lawsuits.

Now remember, Albert Einstein once said, "'The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, "'but by those who watch them.'" Those who have taken a stance against JP should be separate from those who have used Micah's story for views on TikToks. And don't worry, we're gonna talk about that a lot more next week.

But let's get back to what started this flurry of lawsuits. First, let's talk about what set JP off. Like we said, his immature fight against the protesters and online creators is one that resulted in around two dozen calls to police. According to reports, at least the ones that we can see, they're pretty empty. 911, this is JP Miller. Hollow accusations, hysterical claims, lack of evidence, lack of education, no knowledge of the law or constitution,

wash, rinse, repeat. Now, we all know how petty JP can be, right? Something snapped inside of him on January 5th. That was the day that he and his congregation were meeting in what appears to be a giant Morton building type warehouse with bays for the semi-trailer trucks to pull up and load or unload their goods, whatever those may be. In that building, there's also a gym called X-Gym at Sports Mall. The gym regards itself as old school, which according to some of its stellar reviews,

might be code for no air conditioning. Anyway, JP moves Solid Rock, or whatever he's calling his churchy business these days, to that gym for a weekend. According to one of the protesters, they got a tip about it, so they went there to protest. And as JP does, he called 911. Get ready for this one, y'all. While you're listening, I want you to keep this question in mind. Did JP hold his services at the gym to escape the protesters or to lure them onto private property where he could finally claim that they were trespassing? Because, well, you'll see.

Now, why was that just emergency? Ex-Gym, the Ex-Gym, I think it's George Bishop Parkway Ex-Gym, and the owner here asked to call you guys to come out and stop these protesters on private property. And they're screaming obscenities and stuff about murder and saying n*** the black people that are here. So that part, which we bleeped, JP said the N-word to the dispatcher, full word with a hard R, rolled right off his tongue, no apologies about it. He didn't lower his voice, he just said it. He's accusing the protesters, some of whom have children of color, of calling the black

people there the N word. He is co-opting racism to help advance his own agenda here, and it is disgusting. Okay, tell me exactly what happened. They're out here harassing, like they are harassing us. They're getting in our face. They're videotaping us. They're following us, screaming things like they wanna fight.

It's just horrible. It's horrible. Screaming things? Wanting to fight? Oh no! That does sound horrible. A whole mob of protesters? Coming for JP?

That poor guy. And there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight of them. Oh, eight protesters that he counted on his fingers. Okay, and all this has just been viable at this time, nothing physical? Well, I saw them tap two of the cars that were leaving, but the car's already pulled out. You'll see, believe me, you'll see. It's amazing when you get here, you won't even believe it." He saw them tap two of the cars that were leaving, but the cars had already pulled out. Typical JP, making no sense whatsoever and then punctuating it with more drama. Okay,

let's hear more about those eight protesters. There's nine of them. Okay, add one more finger to that count. And they were also yelling at you as well? Oh yeah. The workers. No, no, yelling at me and the workers and people that are leaving the gym. Are any weapons involved? I don't know. They're carrying, they have a bunch of things in their hands.

They have posters, phones, cameras, sticks, tripods. Listen to him again with the drama. Gee, I don't know if they have weapons, but they have posters and selfie sticks. Real quick, did you hear all those kids playing in the background having a great old time, right? Seems like those N-word shouting, car tapping, selfie stick holding, poster carrying, eight, sorry nine protesters weren't leaving all that much of an impression on the people who are standing around JP huh?

Okay where are they now? They're on our property. They're on the private property of the ex-GEM. They're in the parking lot. They're in the front parking lot? Yep. I'm so sorry we don't mean to keep breaking in on this masterpiece of a 911 call, but you heard him say our property, right? It is not his property.

And it is just so telling of how JP views this world as all his. Okay. All right. Are you able to give me descriptions of any of them? Like a little female? Yeah, I mean, there you a male or female? They're blonde, there's all, let's see, one, two, three, four, there's, all of them are blonde.

I'm not, sorry, all of them are female, except for one man. The rest of the females are kind of heavyset. They don't, I don't think they wear any makeup. My God, I am so embarrassed for this idiot right now. This man called 911, the line that's meant for calls about murders or assaults or child abuse or domestic violence or because, I don't know, you've been robbed or hurt or in a car wreck, to report that eight, no, nine, sorry, he said four. Four

heavyset blondes, all female except for one man, blondes, who, he had to note, aren't wearing makeup, are terrorizing him with posters and cameras? This sort of petty judgement is exactly who JP Miller is. Because let's not forget, this is the same man who thought it would be funny, apparently, to send some of his lawsuits to the wrong addresses, including one to a gay bar and one to a Weight Watchers Clinic as particular jabs to those protesters or creators. The dispatcher asked JP for a description of the suspects as dispatchers do. A description that would help law enforcement identify the people in question. And JP was like, oh absolutely yes, a description. Let's see. Well, I'm not sexually interested in them. So yeah, that's about all I got.

Does that help? Okay, and are they all white, black, Asian, Spanish? White, they're all white. There's two guys, sorry, two guys, seven females. Well, do you remember what he was wearing? Yep, I can see it. Oh, there's a blonde with a white sweater. There's a blonde with a white sweater. There's a blonde with a black sweater.

There's a girl with a hat. I mean, you can't miss them. You know, those sweater wearing protesters, they stick out like sore thumbs. The dispatcher then asked JP what color he was referring to. Cacky. He says, cacky.

I'm sorry, but again, this man called 911 with a straight face and said, protect me from these women and sensible clothing. I dare you to listen to this next part without laughing. How far away is the officer? Our people were scared to death. We had to have our guys stand on the side and block them while they pulled out of the parking lot. When the officer here, they're like,

they're getting ready to leave. Oh man. I swear I can hear JP's inside voice, like, no, don't go, Stay with me. Stay with JP. JP tells the dispatcher that they have pictures of all the protesters when they were on private property. But he said that they're moving to the other side of the fence,

i.e. onto public property. And he sounds bummed. Again, he asks the dispatcher, are the police on their way? Then he says this. Even where they're at now, they're on the property. So I hope the cop gets here as soon as he can see or she can see. Okay, we have them on the way. These people are crazy. They like they can pull they can pull out a gun at any minute.

They're absolutely crazy. The things they scream about murder are crazy. They could pull a gun at any minute. I'm not even going to make another joke here about heavy set blonde terrorists wearing sweaters, khaki hats, and apparently no makeup, because I'm angry. I'm so angry for every woman out there who has ever called on law enforcement for help in legitimate life or death circumstances and been interrupted, hushed, called hysterical, told to calm down, told that they could get charged with falsely reporting a crime, and generally not believed. Because this is ridiculous. JP knows these protesters. He's had months of experience with them and he's tried to silence them from every angle. He knows there are no guns. He knows that's not why they are there.

These are people who have experienced abusive relationships or who feel very passionately that Micah deserves more from the public and from law enforcement. These are people who are calling for justice against a man who is actively being investigated by the FBI for interstate domestic violence. A man who, at the very least, allegedly engaged in abuses that led to his wife's death. A man who still believes he's worthy of standing in front of a congregation of people and telling them to give him a chunk of their income in exchange for his moral guidance? How dare he tell police that these people are violent? He knows exactly what he was doing too. Because five days later, he used this incident, this phone call, this thing that he's established

on the record to fuel his spree of frivolous lawsuits. Anyway. established on the record to fuel his spree of frivolous lawsuits. Anyway, JP then gave the dispatcher descriptions of a few cars and she asked him if anyone involved was on drugs and alcohol. JP told her that no one on his side was, but that the protesters seemed pretty wired, all but accusing them of being intoxicated. When the dispatcher asked JP if anyone was in danger,

he said no, not right now. He said the protesters were 100 feet away. Are you close enough to get the tag without causing a scene? Um. Or is it possibly coming towards you? Because I don't want you to put in any kind of danger, especially if you're yelling something about murder and stuff.

Can you get their tags, those three cards? Are you balling up? Those three cards on the end? Okay, yeah, we're gonna get their tags. Especially if they're yelling about murder and stuff. Brilliant, right? He's got the dispatcher thinking that he's being threatened with murder, when the truth is he is the one that people have suspected of causing Micah's death. And sorry to keep doing this to you, but stick a pen in that one too. Real quick, there are two more things

that happened on January 5th. One is that police came and spoke to the gym owner, according to the police report. Despite JP's insistence that the gym owner wanted the protesters trespassed, the owner told police that wasn't the case. He just wanted them to move onto public property, which they did, end of story.

The second thing is that JP didn't seem too rattled by the protesters or his own safety because he went to Bob Evans for breakfast, where he called the police again. He said the protesters followed him to the restaurant and were harassing him. And the protesters, of course, say they didn't. The dispatcher was like,

okay, I'll let police know that you're at Bob Evans. JP, without giving a description of the so-called harassment, rushed to keep the dispatcher on the phone and said that he could give them license plate numbers, which he apparently did. We'll post that call for premium members to listen to. We'll be right back.

Now the next thing we need to talk about is a defendant of JP's named Sam Rickman. Sam is being represented by Micah's attorney Regina Ward and well, they have come out swinging y'all. On Monday, Sam filed an answer and counterclaim to JP's complaint and there are some bombshells in there. First, Sam denies the allegations in JP's complaint, including the address that JP gave to the court for Sam. Second, Sam, who says he was the guitarist in his family, were loyal active members who attended Solid Rock on a regular basis, has his own accusations to make. He refers to JP as the pastor, sole owner,

and decision maker at the church. Sam says that JP asked to play in the church's band on Sunday and that both Sam and his wife volunteered a lot of their time at the church and to JP, including providing JP and his family with barber services and JP's dog with grooming services. Quote, defendant and his family thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship of the congregation, forming many friendships and bonding with other members of the church.

Both defendant and his wife had formed friendships with the plaintiff and his wife, the first lady of the church, Micah. Defendant and his wife always looked forward to attending services, felt blessed to be a part of it, and felt like they found their home church for life. According to the filing, JP told Sam if Sam and his family remain faithful Tithers every Sunday,

and if Sam continued to play in the church band, and if Sam's wife volunteered one day a week at the school, then he would grant their kid an annual scholarship to cover the tuition at Faith First Academy, Solid Rocks Private School. That paragraph says it all, right? We don't get a whole lot of insight into church members who were utterly hurt by JP's actions. Despite JP's

chaotic existence, which we know plenty about, there were actual people who found meaning in the church that they thought they were a part of. According to the counterclaim, Sam was occasionally paid by the church for his independent work requested by JP and JP's father, Wayne Miller. The first job he was hired to do was to quote unquote scrub the internet of JP's cell phone and contact information. I thought pastors were all about outreach and being available to the community with open doors and I think we've already proven

that wasn't the case for JP when his church called the police on a man under medical duress who stopped at Solid Rock asking for water. JP also hired Sam to quote assist him in the design formation and printing of a book that JP presumably wrote wrote which is hilarious. Presumably? I'm guessing this is a reference to JP's book, HELL? No! Which

literally sounds like a parody title. But huh, is Sam hinting that JP didn't write his book? If not then who did? I swear if it turns out to be an AI robot, never tell me. Sam submitted the book to a publisher for JP and then did the same for Wayne for three books that Wayne, quote, presumably wrote for publication. Sam was also hired to take down the church's old outdated website. This is when Micah hired him to, quote, create intro videos and cool, exciting artwork for the youth group to use in various program materials. Sam says he also created countdown videos for JP's sermons.

Countdown videos, y'all. Could this get any more righteous gemstones? Anyway, JP also asked Sam to build the Dare to Care missions website, according to the filing. Now, Dare to Care is the mission that was close to Micah's heart. It is the one that JP and his right-hand woman, Tricia Ross, called police about to falsely report Micah for stealing from it, after Micah once again separated from JP in February.

As you know, a judge cleared Micah of this and refused to sign a warrant for her arrest, finding that she had not stolen any money from Dare to Care. In his filing, Sam says that JP and Micah confided personal information about their marriage to Sam and his wife who offered caring, listening ears, and prayers to JP and Micah. At some point JP began to talk about Micah from the pulpit in a manner that Sam perceived as criticism and exposing personal aspects about Micah that were of no business to the congregation, and certainly irrelevant to any sermon.

Sam became disgusted with JP regularly speaking from the pulpit about Micah which Sam felt JP demeaned, disparaged, and consistently belittled the First Lady. Sam had had enough of this so he decided to stop sitting in on JP's sermons. After the music was over, every Sunday Sam would get up and leave. And it got to the point where Sam didn't even want to be a part of the church anymore. But he felt stuck because his daughter attended JP's school. At some point before all of this though, Sam, as part of offering testimony to a pastor,

had shared private and sensitive information about his life with JP. JP later asked Sam if he could share details of Sam's experiences with other members of the church who might be facing the same struggles. Sam gave JP his conditional approval to that, telling JP not to reveal certain specific information, which JP did, according to Sam. JP allegedly disclosed Sam's personal and private information in a sermon and then falsely took credit for helping Sam recover from addiction when Sam had already been sober for 18 years. This sermon was recorded and uploaded to the church's site. Sam says he was so worried that certain family members of his who were mentioned in the sermon would see the video and he was scared of the potential consequences and the damage it might

cause to his relationships. Later, JP would allegedly tell popular social media content creators on TikTok and YouTube that Sam was using illegal drugs while at the church and JP allegedly told a former staff member that Sam is evil and should not be listened to. In his filing, Sam recounts the morning of April 28th, the day after Micah's death, when JP gave his bizarre, quote, lighthearted sermon filled with jokes and laughter that ended with the announcement of Micah's death and how she died. Almost immediately, Sam says, the sermon went viral and was met with empathy and outrage.

Despite all this, Sam says, JP went to band practice at the church three days later, where he again gave people details of Micah's death. He told the people at practice that the public's reaction was the work of the devil and told them that it would blow over in two weeks. Disgusted and embarrassed by JP's behavior, Sam and his wife left Solid Rock and joined another church. May 1st, 2024 was the last time

Sam ever initiated contact with JP, according to the filing. Four days after this, Sam attended the first protest, which again had permits through the city, according to the filing. Sam says he sat in his car across the street from the church and did not leave his vehicle. He said he was in mourning for Micah and in disbelief over her death. Later that month, Sam posted on Facebook a response to the people who were asking, why didn't church members do more to protect and help Micah? In that post, Sam said he and his wife had gone to the elders of the church before Micah died to express their concerns and after she died to share what JP had told them at that May 1st band practice. On June 2nd, Sam attended and peacefully participated

in another permitted rally across the street from the church, according to his filing. Despite leaving Solid Rock, Sam and his wife decided to keep their daughter, who was set to be on the honor roll and receive recognition for her achievements, in school to finish out the year. Just before the ceremony though, Sam says they were told that due to quote an internal issue, their daughter was no longer going to be on the honor roll and their daughter's name ended up never being called to receive the recognition she was due according to the filing. Sam believes that that was retribution for

them leaving the church. Now none of that is terribly surprising, right? But if true, it would all be confirmation of so many of the things that we've heard about how JP was running that church. But the next thing I'm going to tell you is pretty shocking. Three days before Micah's death, Sam says that JP texted him to ask him to revise the Dare to Care website and quote, put as big as possible on the site dedicated to Micah Miller. Eerie, right? And suspicious. Three days before Micah's mysterious death and JP wanted the Dare to Care website to

be dedicated to her? Was he messing with her? Was this a way to weaken her resolve in the divorce or a cheap trick to show he still wanted her involved in his divorce or a cheap trick to show he still wanted her involved in his life and the church? Or was it something more sinister? Because that's an incredibly hard thing to explain to police in our opinion. JP was in essence setting up a memorial on a website for a mission Micah treasured before she died.P. Miller has terrible luck in timing or there is something very nefarious happening here.

After Micah died on May 22nd, J.P. texted Sam and demanded he remove some of the photos on the Dare to Care website because, quote, his lawyer told him there should not be evidence of association with a certain person. Sam doesn't say who that person was. So was it Micah or was it perhaps the sex offender who had been working for the church?

Sam says he told JP he wasn't comfortable doing that for him. And in response to that, Sam says JP attempted to create anxiety and fear by threatening that Sam would have to pay back the money JP had paid him to create the website in the first place. Then, according to the filing, JP told Sam that if he didn't make the changes, Sam would have to pay back the scholarship for Sam's daughter. Sam and his wife had already done the work per the agreement. It was the end of the school year and JP was using this as leverage to get what JP wanted done.

A week after that, JP then sent Sam a cease and desist letter through his attorney. In the letter, JP accused Sam of making false claims against him and demanded that Sam, quote, release any evidence he has in his possession to Russell B. Wrong's office for, quote, examination of authenticity. And if he didn't, JP would file legal action against Sam.

Remember, Micah's best friend, Charlotte Korn, was sent a similar letter from JP after she appeared on this podcast to talk about her friendship with Micah. Like Charlotte, Sam did not comply with that ridiculous request. Sam says he and his wife have been devastated by Micah's death. And since that time he has posted positive messages about Micah on social media, hoping to keep her memory alive.

So people will know her as she was and not as the person JP tried to make her out to be. In the post, Sam says that he has never mentioned JP or alluded to him, nor has he ever restated any of the allegations against JP. Sam says he also curated a website for Micah celebrating her and honoring her kindness and loving nature through photos. He says he's posted about the Justice for Micah movement, which aims held in November, which Sam says had nothing to do with JP. Sam is also the creator of the Micah Ducks campaign, where little purple ducks have been hidden locally and internationally by people hoping to keep Micah's memory alive. People who find the ducks then post about them online. Sam says he has done all

of this for free and does not make money off of any of it. Now here is the kicker. Sam ends his counterclaim by saying that in the light of the FBI's investigation into JP, Sam believes that JP is concerned about what he and his wife can attest to regarding JP's relationship with Micah and his behavior over several years. Sam believes, quote, this frivolous lawsuit is an effort to further intimidate and silence him, especially if JP believes Sam's relevant information for the FBI investigation. In his filings, Sam has included several defenses to JP's claims against him. Sam says that JP has unclean hands,

that JP breached his fiduciary duty to him by revealing highly sensitive and confidential information about him and made threats. Meaning, JP cannot come after him for money when JP acted unepically in regards to this case in the first place. Sam also says that he's protected by the First Amendment in regards to his social media posts and the protests. Sam is also asserting that JP is a public character. Here is David with Sam's argument. JP has himself used his own pulpit

to disclose personal and private facts about himself, his late wife, prior to and after her passing, status of his marriage, and other similar personal and normally private facts. JP is an author of at least one religious book, a pastor who publicizes his sermons, promotes himself online, and has voluntarily participated in interviews with national news

organizations and social media content creators. JP, by his own action, has propelled himself into the spotlight of the public, indicating consent to the publication of those certain facts about his life, and has lost, to some extent, the right of certain otherwise private matters that are important for the public to be aware of as a consideration of whether parents should entrust their children to the church's school or become members of his church. Actions unbecoming of a pastor, Search, actions unbecoming of a pastor, events such as FBI raids, are very much a matter of public interest. Amen to that, right?

Additionally, Sam is accusing JP of abusive process, saying that JP has an ulterior motive to silence Sam and is misusing the court to do so. And he says that JP has intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him by using Sam's daughter as a way to take out his anger over Sam and his wife leaving the church. Finally, Sam is accusing JP of defamation, slander, and invasion of privacy. And he is asking the court for a permanent restraining order against JP to prevent JP from coming after him again. It is really a thing of beauty.

You know how we've mentioned before the coincidence about how the word chess seems to come up a lot in this case. JP has used it in sermons and in his quest to have Micah committed by the state, he said that she claimed to be playing a game of chess with the devil and we bet she meant JP with that one. And JP's alleged paramour, Susie Skinner's husband drowned in the neighborhood pool where he had supposedly gone to play chess. We're here to tell you today that JP Miller must be horrible at chess because he cannot seem to anticipate people's very obvious counter moves.

Knowing all of this that Sam had on him and JP Miller still decided to poke that bear? On Wednesday, Regina Ward sent us a notice that she is deposing JP on February 17th at her law firm. Things have come full circle, y'all. We could not be happier and we hope that if JP decides to undo this mess by withdrawing his claim that Sam will stay in the game because this is what accountability looks like.

This is all anyone, especially the protesters, have ever wanted. For JP to have to answer for his behavior on the record. So we commend Sam Rickman and Regina Ward for not letting JP get away with this legal bullying. If there is anyone out there who has suggestions about questions that need to be asked of JP, If you know the answer to the questions or think you do, please include that as well. Because it is now game on. And when it's game on, the pesky get peskier.

Since the FBI raids, JP has been in his find out era. And yet, he has been a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, it's game on, the pesky get peskier. Since the FBI raids, JP has been in his find out era and yet he still hasn't realized it. Stay tuned, stay pesky and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production created by me, Manny 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, 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 Murdoch 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 the Eric Bland comm 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.