Reverend John-Paul Miller and the family of his late, estranged wife Mica reached a settlement Monday, in a shocking twist after her suicide drew national attention.
Mica’s family had previously called for a more thorough investigation into John-Paul, alleging that he had abused her. Now, however, both sides have reached a truce and are asking the protesters to leave the pastor’s church in South Carolina.
“This is over,” John Paul’s attorney Russell Long said Monday. “This global settlement is Mica’s justice. The next step is the legislative goal. We only ask that you remember Mica as the wonderful, beautiful person she was.”
Both parties have agreed to drop the lawsuit and not to file any further lawsuits against each other in the future.
Mica, 30, was found with a gunshot wound in a North Carolina state park on April 27, 2024. Her death was ruled a suicide by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.
Pastor John-Paul Miller and the family of his late, estranged wife Mica reached a settlement Monday, in a shocking twist after her suicide drew national attention
Mica, 30, was found with a gunshot wound in a North Carolina state park on April 27, 2024. Her death was ruled a suicide by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. Mica’s family had previously called for a fuller investigation into John-Paul, but both sides have now reached a truce.
Regina Ward, a local attorney who represented Mica’s family and hung a large banner reading “JUSTICE FOR MICA” outside her office, understood the confusion some of her supporters may have felt.
“I know some of you will be disappointed. When you’re involved in a case of this magnitude and dealing with so many cases, it can take years to get through the legal system,” Ward said. WBTW.
Ward said the family and John-Paul will now focus on a law that would prohibit the abuse of coercive control.
“We are ready to move on to the next chapter,” she said. “The next chapter is to convince our general assembly to look at the bill for the coercive control law. We need to get that on the agenda as soon as possible.”
She added that she “doesn’t want to talk about Mr. Miller anymore” and that she will raise money for such a bill, which last stalled in the South Carolina Legislature in 2021.
Long also asked the protesters to leave the churchgoers on Market Common alone.
“The Francis family, through their lawyer, has just asked them to focus their energy on something else. They’ve asked them to focus their energy on passing this coercive control law,” he said.
“I would ask that they leave the churchgoers alone. These poor people are just trying to go to church on Sunday, and they are being harassed and scared.”
John-Paul bizarrely claimed that when Mica committed suicide he was ‘in an incredibly euphoric mood’
Families ask protesters to leave pastor’s church in South Carolina
John-Paul Miller will now no longer have to face civil wrongful death lawsuits in connection with the death of his wife.
Mica’s sister, Sierra Frances, had filed a request for control over her estate, but that request was also withdrawn.
The terms of the entire settlement, including who will administer Mica’s estate, are confidential.
Mica’s suicide gained national attention after John-Paul gave a sermon announcing her death to his congregation, then abruptly ended the meeting and demanded that he not be questioned.
Internet sleuths claimed he was involved in her death, with some even seeing him wearing the same necklace Mica was wearing when she died.
But John-Paul insisted he was not with his wife that day when she committed suicide in Lumbee River State Park in North Carolina.
“I was in Charleston with about 100 people from my kids’ school,” John-Paul, a popular pastor with a criminal record that includes multiple counts of aggravated assault, told NewsNation.
‘We were all together on the football fields that day. After the football game, there was someone with me the whole time… someone I love more than anything on planet Earth… was with me.
Regina Ward, a local attorney who represented Mica’s family and hung a giant “JUSTICE FOR MICA” banner outside her office, understood the confusion some of her supporters may have felt
Mica’s sister, Sierra Frances, had filed a request to gain control of her estate, but that request was also withdrawn
“And we went shopping in Charleston. And we got food in Charleston. And there are all the receipts from that over time.”
John-Paul bizarrely claimed his wife was in an “incredibly euphoric mood” on the day she died, as grisly footage emerged of her laughing as she bought a gun just hours before she shot herself.
“Someone sent me screenshots of pictures of Dick’s pawn shop, where she’s smiling. Of the six or seven times she’s attempted suicide in the past, only once was she depressed,” he continued.
“The other times she was very euphoric. And then she would wake up and say, ‘I think I’m going to die today.’”
He said these incidents were due to Mica not taking her medication, as he had warned her family that she would commit suicide ‘if you don’t get her her lithium.’
“I told her friends, I told everybody,” he said, and when he heard about Mica’s suicide, his response was, “I told you guys.”
He also said that when Mica was on her medication, “we had the best marriage you could ever imagine.”
John-Paul said he did not believe his wife was murdered. This claim was supported by a toxicology report which showed her cause of death was suicide and that she had not been sedated.
Footage taken in a pawn shop shortly before her death shows Mica buying a gun on the day of her suicide
After John Paul announced his wife’s death in his sermon, he suggested that he had been with her body in the morgue, which caused concern among some bystanders.
He now claims he couldn’t lie with her because of the position of her body in the coffin, but he does say he “hugged her” and “sat on the floor and talked to her for a while.”
The pastor added that he subsequently tried to raise her from the dead, but unsurprisingly his attempts to bring her back to life were unsuccessful.
John-Paul also admitted that a letter of apology to his wife, which only surfaced after her death, was legitimate. In it, he said he regretted the manipulation he had inflicted on her, such as slashing her tires and monitoring her movements.
Miller, a popular pastor with a criminal record of aggravated assault and battery, attributes his previous silence to “wisdom and self-control.”
He said he wanted to find out the truth behind his wife’s death, claiming: “Mica will get justice.”
Following a court hearing on June 5, 2024, Mica’s family was granted rights to her property and called for changes to a domestic violence bill, calling it “Mica’s Law.”
Authorities have previously said that John-Paul Miller was not at the scene of Mica’s death. They have also released 911 calls, photos and surveillance footage that show Mica purchasing a gun before traveling to North Carolina on the day of her suicide.
Miller has always denied any abuse. He claims, “She’s never been abused as long as she’s been married to me.”
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the FBI, is involved in the investigation.