I try to update my readers from time to time about Pastor Ken Miller. Miller has been imprisoned and is serving a 27-month sentence in federal prison for helping Lisa Miller (no relation) escape the country with her biological daughter, Isabella, years ago. Lisa and Isabella fled the U.S. to avoid Isabella's being given in full custody to a woman unrelated to Isabella, Lisa's former lesbian lover. I have written about the case repeatedly and am not writing this entry to re-litigate it.
The federal government has hounded Pastor Miller into prison, where he is patiently serving his sentence. He writes updates for his supporters at this site.
But the federal government is not going to leave him alone to finish out his sentence and try to put his life back together.
Pastor Miller's latest update says that the government has called upon him to testify against another Christian who was also involved in Lisa Miller's case. He refused several years ago and served 40 days for civil contempt at that time. Concerning this call to testify, he says,
The prosecutor has made it clear that refusal to testify this time could mean substantial time added to my present 27-month sentence.
and adds,
Please pray for wisdom and grace as I face these decisions.
This is serious stuff. Based on this site's discussion of civil contempt, it sure looks like Miller could be kept in prison indefinitely even after serving his 27-month sentence if he refuses to "purge himself of the contempt" by agreeing to testify.
If there ever were a case for prosecutorial discretion, the Lisa Miller case should be it, and all the more so now that Pastor Ken Miller has been made an example by being sent off to prison. But the federal government isn't willing to let it drop. They are apparently going to pursue every last person who was involved in any way in helping Lisa to leave the country with her daughter. In doing so, they are going to continue to persecute even those like Pastor Miller who have already been tried and sentenced and are simply trying to endure their own sufferings with patience and kindness. But that's not enough. You also have to testify against other believers who did something similar to what you did to help a mother trying to avoid giving her daughter up to a sexual pervert who had no relationship with the daughter. (Or, from the federal government's perspective, you have to testify against other wicked conspirators who plotted together to carry out an international kidnapping.) And if you don't testify, then, a la Jean Valjean, you will have an ever-lengthening sentence and not be allowed to get back to your family.
It's difficult and painful to believe that this is happening in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Pastor Miller is a true prisoner of conscience. (In passing, I note that some football player recently refused to stand for the national anthem because of his adherence to the entire litany of over-the-top claims about police hunting down and murdering black people. But I doubt that any of Pastor Miller's fellow church members are going to refuse to stand for the national anthem because their country has betrayed them. Nor would they get much sympathy from the MSM if they did. Such is the difference.)
This must be terribly difficult for Pastor Miller to decide. Is it God's will that he testify? Given the government's determination, it seems likely that they will be able to jail the other person (whose name I don't know) regardless. Perhaps the "best" thing that could happen (meaning the least harm) would be for the accused in the new case to agree to testify against himself in return for the government's dropping the pressure on Pastor Miller. If the current accused decides that he is going to be convicted anyway, he could perhaps work a deal to absolve his friend from being thrown into an agony of conscience and possibly have his sentence extended if he decides that he cannot testify in good conscience. However, I don't know if that sort of thing would work, and it's outrageous that the issue should even arise. Surely there are dangerous criminals whom the government could put money and effort into pursuing instead of a handful of Mennonite pacifists who helped plot to drive a woman and her own daughter over the border to Canada.
Pray for Pastor Miller and his wife and family. So far God has kept him safe from physical harm in the prison. May God sustain him in this new trial and give him wisdom.
Comments (6)
This case is just terrible. It is hardly surprising in the present climate that Miller might just end up in jail even longer. If we had a decent President, he would pardoned and given a medal. Any idea on whether Isabella could ever safely return to the US? I mean return without be harassed and coerced into helping her mother get caught.
PS http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/08/30/in_new_york_a_landmark_ruling_for_estranged_gay_and_lesbian_parents.html
Sounds like New York is implementing the same type of law that had Isabella legally handed over to a stranger.
Posted by DR84 | August 31, 2016 6:46 PM
When she turns 21 and can tell perverts to go pound sand.
Posted by Scott W. | August 31, 2016 9:19 PM
The prosecutors could still subpoena him to testify in a different case and throw him back in jail until he does. The civil contempt charge would be independent of his own sentence for "kidnapping."
DR84 raises the question of her being called upon to testify, though. It's a good and disturbing point. If the federal government is still pursuing this person and that person, couldn't an adult Isabella be subpoenaed to testify in some trial or before some grand jury? There is no mother-child testimony privilege (that I know of), so presumably if they were trying to get an indictment of her mother in absentia before a Grand Jury, or trying some minor actor from the Mennonite community (this whole thing is dragging on for years), they could threaten Isabella herself with civil contempt if she refused to testify in such a context.
Post-Obergefell, I'd say by default _every_ state is going to have to treat non-related former "spouses" as "parents." If some state refused to do so, the SCOTUS would probably tell them it was "discriminatory."
I always note concerning this case both how long ago it was and also that it was under Vermont's civil union statute, without even the word "marriage." I do that to remind "moderate" conservatives that civil unions are *by design* identical to marriage legally, only without the name, so no conservative be going around saying, "I'm opposed to gay 'marriage' but I'm in favor of civil unions."
I felt like I was looking at a dinosaur when that "moderate" position came up from Carly Fiorina in the primaries. It was so nineties.
Posted by Lydia | September 1, 2016 9:56 AM
The possibility is both disturbing enough and likely enough that I do not expect Isabella to ever return, or at least not until her mother passes away. I did not consider the possibility that she could also be asked to testify against the people who helped her.
It would be wonderful for her to be able to come back, visit relatives, and personally thank the people who helped her and her mother escape. It sounds like she is probably about 1e years old now. So it is only 5 more years until she could return without being handed over to her mom's former partner.
How the media would react to her returning would also be interesting. We know the story they would want and that story is probably exactly the opposite of what they woukd get.
Posted by DR84 | September 1, 2016 10:24 AM
Yes, I sometimes picture her meeting Pastor Miller years later and thanking him. He really has in an important sense given up his life for her. I hope she realizes this and continues to pray for him.
Posted by Lydia | September 1, 2016 11:01 AM
Just a point of order - in Ken Miller's church they would generally refer to him as either just "Ken Miller" or "Brother Ken", and would not use titles like "Pastor Miller".
In addition, you said "But I doubt that any of Pastor Miller's fellow church members are going to refuse to stand for the national anthem because their country has betrayed them."; his fellow church members would not make a show of standing for the national anthem in the first place nor do things like place their hand over their heart. As a general rule conservative Mennonites do not do things like salute the flag, observe the national anthem, have a flag at church or school, say the pledge of allegiance in school, and so forth.
Posted by Joshua Rodd | September 7, 2016 4:06 PM