Minister Found Guilty Of Aiding Kidnapping of Daughter Of "Ex-Lesbian"

The folks at Liberty University and Liberty Counsel - two nasty boils on Virginia's reputation - are going to be shrieking along with the rest of the professional Christian set over the conviction of Kenneth Miller (pictured at left) - a Mennonite pastor - for aiding and abetting Lisa Miller (no relation to Kenneth Miller) in the kidnapping of her daughter in contravention to numerous court rulings both here in Virginia and Vermont.  For newer readers, Lisa Miller is a lesbian who now claims to be "ex-gay" and who split from her former partner who was an adopted mother to Lisa Miller's daughter.  With the suspected but as yet unproven help of folks at Liberty University and the now convicted pastor, Lisa Miller abducted her daughter and fled to Central America and has been in hiding since 2009.  The Hartford Courant has details. Here are some highlights: 

A Mennonite minister was found guilty on Tuesday of aiding and abetting international kidnapping by helping a woman flee to Nicaragua with her daughter to evade court orders giving visitation rights to her former lesbian partner.

Federal prosecutors say Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, helped orchestrate Lisa Miller's flight to Canada and Nicaragua in 2009 with her daughter out of Christian solidarity with her decision to reject homosexuality and her former partner. The two Millers are not related.

The jury deliberated only a few hours before finding Kenneth Miller guilty. He faces the possibility of three years in prison. No sentencing date was set.  Miller showed no reaction as the verdict was announced. More than 80 other Mennonites filled the Vermont courtroom.

Lisa Miller took the girl to Central America after denouncing homosexuality and losing a series of family court battles in Vermont with her former partner, Janet Jenkins.  Jenkins and Miller were joined in a civil union in Vermont in 2000. After in vitro fertilization, Miller gave birth to Isabella two years later.  Miller filed to dissolve the union in 2003. She got custody of Isabella, but a Vermont court gave Jenkins visitation rights.

Joshua Autrey, a lawyer for Kenneth Miller, did not dispute evidence about his client's role in organizing Lisa Miller's secretive flight days before a court-ordered visitation with Jenkins.  Instead, the defense attorney offered a nuanced legal argument that his client did not know about her intent to violate Jenkins' visitation rights. 

Kenneth Miller contacted Mennonites to drive Lisa Miller and Isabella to an airport in Canada in 2009 and pick her up in Nicaragua where the group runs a mission, according to court documents.  Lisa Miller was indicted on international kidnapping charges in 2010, but federal agents have been unable to locate her or Isabella. Nicaragua does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
 

The conviction is welcome and hopefully will drive the message home to the Christofascists that they are not exempt from the constraints of the civil laws - even if they see themselves as exempt from the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness.  Personally, I would love to see some of the folks at Liberty University further implicated in this conspiracy to defy the various court orders.