By Melanie Nathan, March 05, 2013.
A U.S. District Court Judge released convicted felon, Pastor Kenneth Miller, pending his appeal, after he was sentenced to 27 months in prison, for aiding and abetting a mother to flee the U.S. after she had kidnapped her daughter, to defy Court ordered visitation with the other lesbian mother. (See Yesterday’s article Pastor sentenced to federal prison in Vermont lesbian custody dispute). While the Judge gave the maximum sentence and it is typical for a defendant to be released pending an appeal on a substantial issue like venue, especially when the term of incarceration would be served by the time the appeal was heard, this particular convicted felon, Kenneth Miller has thumbed his nose at the justice the system through this case and it would seem that he has been encouraged by his legal team to do so.
Miller was found guilty by a jury for helping renounced lesbian mother turned Christian extremist pawn, Lisa Miller (no relation) to flee the country to Nicaragua, kidnapping daughter Isabella, rather than abide a court visitation order obtained by her former civil union partner Janet Jenkins.
Judge William Sessions III had to order the release of Jeff Miller despite the pastor’s statement where he noted that he “couldn’t promise he would not again aid in international parental kidnapping.”
The Virginia pastor said that his actions: “flow out of my faith in Jesus,” and was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison for abetting the international parental kidnapping of the child in a long drawn out high-profile case involving a same-sex union and the condemnation of homosexuality by conservative Christians.
According to a NY Times Article, After his conviction, Mr. Miller refused to testify before a grand jury about others who aided Ms. Miller, telling his supporters: “If I were to bring testimony against a fellow member of Christ’s kingdom, for honoring Christ’s kingdom’s laws, I would be disloyal to his kingdom and to Christ.” As a result he has been jailed for the last month for contempt of court, but Judge Sessions suspended the contempt charge on Monday, leaving Mr. Miller free to go,
Notwithstanding the right to an appeal, the man is a clear danger to society, because he would commit the same crime again.
Isabella is still missing, and Lisa Miller is still at large, while mother Janet Jenkins has not seen her daughter in many years. Miller is dangerous and unremorseful and has now free and willing to commit the crime again while his appeal is pending. Perhaps our justice system should have some rule that would give a Judge discretion in an instance like this, however the man who has insulted and defied our judicial system seems to have some sort of pass in the minds of his Christian supporters, who believe that they can tout their version of Christianity and be fully absolved from the law of the land.
The Judge said that he found Miller’s conviction to his Christianity laudable, but that he “could not allow him to choose God’s law over his country’s, saying the pastor had helped deprive Isabella of Jenkins’ love.”
Kenneth Miller is free in a milieu where even the attorney for kidnapper Lisa Miller, Liberty Council’s notorious anti-gay Matt Stever, has endorsed civil disobedience by Christians against these types of orders of court, as alleged in the civil RICO lawsuit, filed against Kenneth Miller and others, who allegedly played a role in helping Lisa Miller kidnap her daughter and escape the U.S., which shockingly makes the alleged link to the very powerful Liberty University Law School and Thomas Road Baptist Church, noting:
“Lisa Miller’s attorneys Mathew Staver and Rena Lindevaldsen also routinely instructed their Law School students that the correct course of action for a person in Lisa Miller’s situation would be to engage in “civil disobedience” and defy court orders.
Also in 2009, TRBC Head Pastor Jonathan Falwell was among several religious leaders who made a call for “Christian civil disobedience” and published a public declaration, known as The Manhattan Declaration stating:
“will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”
Given this context the release of Jeff Miller into the arms of a defiant team of willing Christian extremists and a vulnerable public, it is particularly egregious to the victim of the crime, that being Isabella and Janet Jenkins as will as the entire LGBT community. This group, has used the Lisa Miller case to further their own anti-gay parenting propaganda and they may as well advertise themselves a pipeline for anti-gay parental kidnappings, with Pastor Jeff Miller willing to lead the team, while the justice system watches on.
In the meantime it is to be noted that in all the years of this case and despite being the aggrieved parent, Janet Jenkins has always adhered fully to the law and the orders of court, often having to wait lengthy periods of time for results, along the way. Lest we forget Isabella who has been deprived of one of her parents for all these years.
Melanie Nathan
[email protected]
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/us/kenneth-miller-convicted-of-aiding-in-parental-kidnapping.html?ref=us&_r=0
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/viewart/20130304/NEWS07/303040011/Virginia-pastor-sentenced-in-Vermont-custody-dispute
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-law-school-and-others-hit-rico-lawsuit-over-lisa-miller-kidnapping-case
Pastor sentenced to federal prison in Vermont lesbian custody dispute
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Of the very many articles I wrote on this subject, I republish this one –
Back in March 26, 2012, I wrote this Article on another website where you can note it was apparent from sources that Liberty was helping Lisa Miller:-
Is Fugitive Lesbian Mom Lisa Miller being Housed by Church & Liberty Council?
Lisa Miller is still on the run – Isabella is almost 9 (April) and it is a month since arrest warrant – Are friends helping and hiding lesbian mom and child?
By Melanie Nathan. 3-25-10;
So called “Friends of Lisa Miller” alias Liberty Council say they don’t know where Lisa Miller and her seven-year-old daughter are, but they say they support her decision to leave. A Vermont court ordered Miller’s ex-partner Janet Jenkins custody of their daughter in May, and now it’s been six months since Miller’s friends say they’ve had any contact with her.
The case has drawn national attention and has strong ties to Lynchburg. Liberty Counsel is working on filing an appeal to the latest court order, which included handing over Isabella.
It does not take a genius to see through this farce. The purported ‘we do not know where she is at?’ Can you imagine a ‘ face- all -over -the -gay -press’ mom with an almost nine year old running, hiding and not a single human soul knows where she is at?
An article on “From the Lighthouse” asserts in true red-herring fashion asserts that ” Her friends (and whom might they be?) say they understand why she decided to go into hiding. Miller’s friends may have had the last known contact with mother and daughter. This is a ruse to divert attention from the fact that Liberty Council, and its compliment of fervent gay haters, is clearly involved in aiding Ms. Miller. Is it possible to represent Ms. Miller in her Court appeal without any contact with client? Who is communicating with Lisa Miller with regard to her appeal. How does an attorney represent a client without a client?
Why are local authorities not pursuing this vigorously. Is Ms. Miller in Florida or is she still at the safe house in Lynchburg?
A certain Linda Wall purportedly a friend (hey my friends if any one of you ever dare encourage me, the writer of this article, Melanie Nathan, to ever break the law please do not have the gall to call yourself my friend – hey don’t aid and abet me in the commission of an abduction either – not in the name of G-d – no way ever…thanks … allow me to continues…where was I?)…… right…..
A certain Linda Wall who purportedly is a friend said she knew for sure her friend Miller and her seven-year-old daughter Isabella had gone into hiding. Right! How can we believe that Miller did this with no help at all? The article is an absolute ploy to divert the attention of authorities from their own criminal acts.
Our sources inform us that Ms. Miller, a fugitive, was in hiding with the child at a men’s rehabilitation center, owned and run by the Liberty Council. An informant close to the center advised that Ms. Miller was in fact there – indicating that in fact this assertion that her “friends” do not know where she is, is an absolute lie.
Ms. Miller is not independently wealthy – she is being fed, transported and hidden by Liberty council; otherwise how could she, an unseasoned fugitive have so adeptly vanished with a child- off the face of the Earth, and survived an outrun of the FBI.
Wall said “Unbeknowing (sorry this is not a real word but it is the quote from Wall) to any of us… she was doing something behind the scene,” Right Ms. Wall – we believe you – all on her own. No money no help…..
What my explain this so called friendship by Wall who says she has known the mother and daughter since 2004 is the fact that she professes to be “former homosexual,” and involved as a conservative Christian radical in the very group that has proclaimed Miller “ex-lesbian” too.
See video footage below.
Famous Linda Wall quotes:
“I was able to leave homosexuality through a miraculous encounter with the Lord,”
“Thomas Road Baptist church didn’t play a part.”
“I do support what she’s done,””When the law is wrong, what’s a person to do?”
“I am supposed to be the number one suspect because I was so involved in this and I don’t know where she is”
Lisa Miller’s friend Janet Stasulli also has no idea of her whereabouts. “We have no idea where she is.” The last time Wall says she had contact with Miller was in late September. Up to that point, she believes Miller was working behind the scenes on her escape. It’s a decision they support. Wall said.
Janet Jenkins’ ACLU attorney, Sarah Star said that even though Jenkins has been awarded sole custody of Isabella, she would still allow Miller to have visitation. Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union in 2000. Miller broke up with Jenkins in 2003, moved to the Lynchburg-area, denounced homosexuality, and joined Thomas Road Baptist Church. Isabella was born to Miller, biologically and Jenkins, by adoption, through artificial insemination in 2002.
In addition to Star, Jenkins is being represented in the various legal proceedings by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the ACLU of Virginia, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
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