'Pastor's Wife' Mica Miller Secret Settlement Revealed

We have the transcript of a key court. hearing about a secret settlement. between JP Miller and Mika Miller's. family and this fills in a lot of the. holes we had in trying to understand. what happened here. So we're going to. break down the big moments from this. hearing because let me tell you this. reveals a lot. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. We got our hands on a transcript from a. court hearing in the JP Miller story. that fills in a lot of holes from the.

last time we talked about this on. Sidebar. We talked about this settlement. agreement. Okay, we didn't have more. details about it. We didn't have more. circumstances surrounding it. Now we do. You see 6 days after 30-year-old Mika. Miller died back in April of 2024 from. what authorities determined was a. self-inflicted gunshot wound after her. body was found in Lumber River State. Park in North Carolina, her sister, Sierra Francis, was. appointed special administrator of her. estate. This was done by the Horry. County Probate Court out in South.

Carolina. However, a week later, this is. when her husband, who apparently she was. separated from, South Carolina pastor. John Paul JP Miller, filed a petition. seeking to become the personal. representative of Mika's estate. And as. part of his petition, he wrote, quote, "Basically, I have lived 7 years with a. person who had to take a pill every day. or she would threaten to kill me or. someone else. I did everything I could. think to do." Goes on to say, quote, "To. my knowledge, Mika had no estate.

documents, will, or trust. She had no. other heirs, beneficiaries, as I am her. spouse, and she had no children. There. are no other individuals ahead of me as. her husband in the intestate line to be. the personal representative. I have been. informed that her death was ruled a. suicide and that there are no ongoing. investigations by anyone in North. Carolina, South Carolina, or federal. Thus, I ask this court under law of. South Carolina to appoint me personal. representative of the estate so that all. creditors can be paid and I can honor.

all of Mica's wishes. So, the problem. with all that is that there was a. spotlight put on JP Miller, allegations. of abuse by him towards Mica. Now, to be. clear, there's no evidence that he was. involved in Mica's death. Authorities. confirmed he was in another state. He's. never been arrested in connection or. charged in connection with her death per. se, but there have been questions, particularly from those who knew and. loved Mica, that started to swirl about. what may be drove her to do this, whether her alleged toxic relationship.

with JP played a role. But, you fast. forward to July of 2024, and Mica's. family apparently reaches a confidential. settlement with JP. And by August, he. became the estate representative, the. personal representative. The following. year, Mica's mother, Angelica Salas, petitioned the probate court to remove. JP as personal representative of her. daughter's estate. Well, right now, for. the first time, we got our hands on this.

transcript from this hearing in probate. court out of South Carolina from. February 5th, 2026, where there is this. effort by Ms. Salas to remove JP Miller. as the personal representative. And it. is this hearing that reveals a lot. Now, I also want to let you know, we reached. out to the different parties in this. case, didn't get a comment back. In. fact, Regina Ward, who we're going to. talk about, an attorney in this case who. represented Mica Miller, um she's unable. at this point to provide more comments.

or information about this hearing, but. hopefully that can change in due time. Uh she just can't talk about it. But, this hearing was about trying to remove. JP as the personal representative. And. I'm going to highlight some major. moments. Like, for instance, we now. found out a lot more about this secret. settlement. So, this is attorney Liz. Dalzell, who represents Salas, again, Mica's mother. She says to the court, quote, "Okay, after her death, the parties entered.

into a settlement agreement. It was 3. months after her death. That was the. agreement that Mr. Long brought up early. today. That's in reference, by the way, to Russell B. Long, the attorney that. represents J.P. Miller. Going back to. Dalzell, quote, "As part of that. settlement agreement, which is part of. the record in this case, Mr. Miller. agreed to pay the family $100,000. in exchange for the release of all. potential claims against him and the. church pertaining to Mika Miller's. death. Most pertinently, part of this.

agreement also was the agreement that. she that he be appointed as a personal. representative of the estate and that. they would not contest that. So, in. effect, your honor, he paid for the. right to be the personal representative. of this estate. That itself is an act of. self-dealing and presents a conflict of. interest. In addition, since her death, he has been federally indicted on crimes. related to Mika Miller. We'll talk a. little bit more about the federal. charges, but later on in this hearing, there's actually a reference to this. payment.

of $130,000, not $100,000, and there's. questions about how he was appointed, but you get the general idea about what. this is about. Now, actually, at one. point in the hearing, Russell Long, again, J.P. Miller's attorney, reads. from the settlement, quote, "So, paragraph four of the agreement on the. fourth page says, upon dismissal of the. family court action, the special. administrator, that is, Sierra, this is. Mika's sister, her duties under the. certificate of appointment, that is, the.

appointment to be the special. administrator, shall be fulfilled and. her appointment shall terminate. The. parties acknowledge that all property. has been turned over to John Paul. Miller. There was no other property to. be turned over to him or the personal. representative. And paragraph five says, pursuant to the probate court. certificate of appointment of special. administrator, John Paul Miller will be. appointed as the personal representative. and he shall be responsible for. finalizing Mika's estate, finalizing. Mika's estate and all attending.

documents, pleadings, and filings. associated. Now, again, the payment of. $100,000, $130,000, so he can't be sued. and his church can't be sued in. connection to Mika's death. That is key. In fact, at one point, Regina Ward. testifies during the hearing. Regina has. been a frequent guest here on Sidebar. She had represented Mika Miller. I want. you to listen to what she says about the. settlement. So, Ward is asked by. attorney Dalzell, "The $100,000 was also.

consideration for other provisions in. the settlement agreement, correct?" And. Regina responds, "Oh, yes, absolutely. For instance, wrongful death." So, wrongful death is a legal action that a. family member can bring against another. person who they claim is legally. responsible or liable for someone's. death. And you can bring that whether. there are criminal charges or not. You. can bring that whether someone is even. acquitted of a homicide charge or not. Look at the O.J. case. So, then Dalzell. goes, "Yes, okay, so let's talk about.

that. What You were concerned at the. time that there were going to be claims. against him with regard to her wrongful. death, correct?" Ward responds, "No, I. don't know. I was concerned that there's. going to be other claims against Mr. Miller." "Oh, yeah, he was concerned. that" and Ward goes on to say, "Oh, I. don't I'm sure he's concerned about a. lot of things, but I can't read his. mind." The questioning goes on, "But at. the time, that was factoring into the. what provisions went into the settlement. agreement?" Ward responds, "Maybe on his. side, you have to ask his lawyer that.". She's questioned, "Okay, but potential.

claims for wrongful death and related. claims were on the table, so to speak, as when this agreement was drafted?". Ward responds, "Yeah, it was it was a. consideration.". Now, we don't know exactly how a. potential wrongful death suit against. J.P. Miller would have been structured, how it would have been argued, how it. would have. attempted to be proven, whether it would. have even been successful, but at the. very least, you seem to hear how it was. a thought, how it was a consideration at.

one point in time. And also, I got to. call this out. This happened during. Regina's testimony because Dalzell asks, "Quote, there were concerns that the. family had potential wrongful death. causes of action against him, correct?". Ward responds, "Yes." "And that's the. point of this agreement?" Ward says, "No." "What it said" question it goes. on, "What was the point of the. agreement? A mutual release of all. parties, correct? So, what was the point. of this agreement? Why reach this. agreement 3 months after her death?" And.

Ward responds, "Because it absolutely. 100% was in the best interest of Mika's. estates." She's asked, "How is that?". And Regina Ward responds, "You wouldn't. want me to tell you that right now.". Hmm. And she emphasizes that she will not say. what she was going to say on the record. And the judge jumps in and says, "Ms. Ward, this information that she's. asking, the answer to the question, would it involve any action whatsoever. that Mika's estate would have against.

someone other than somebody released by. that agreement?" And Ward says, "No.". Court says, "Unless you're going to. attack the validity of the agreement, I. don't think it's relevant." Hmm. No idea. what that was about. No idea who that. was in reference to, but. something I wanted to call out. Now, with that in mind, during the hearing, there are references to the allegations. against JP Miller, the federal charges. that he now faces. Remember, he has been.

charged with cyberstalking, seemingly. Mika Miller, and allegedly lying to. federal investigators about that alleged. stalking. So, I go back to attorney. Dalzell laying something out to the. court because it's key regarding. allegations and potential the potential. legal theory of liability for Mika's. death, right? How would JP Miller. potentially be involved here? So, Dalzell says, "Quote, we're here today on Ms. Salice's. petition to remove JP Miller as a.

personal representative of her deceased. daughter's estate. Mika Miller passed. away on April 27th of 2024. At the time, she and JP Miller were married, but they. were separated and had been for at least. a year. At the time of her death, there. was a good bit of animosity between the. parties. There were accusations of. abuse. Mica Miller had called law. enforcement numerous times prior to her. death alleging that her husband was. abusing her, stalking her, etc. So, there was not a good relationship at the. time, and neither was the relationship. between JP Miller and the family. 2.

months prior to her death, Mica actually. called law enforcement reporting that JP. Miller had involuntarily hospitalized. her. She also reported that she had been. groomed since the age of 10. And by the. way, this is actually a good time to. bring up the Court TV case file section. on the Law & Crime Plus app because, you. know, we're kind of limited in. everything we can show you on like the. Mica Miller case. And so, what we do is. for these big cases, we open up the. evidence vault so you can inspect things. like the raw body cam footage, the 911. calls, the crime scene photos, the full.

trial tapes, all first hand. You can see. all of it there. Plus, you get ad-free. streaming of all your favorite Law &. Crime and Court TV shows, including. Prime Crime, by the way. And I'm going. to tell you that our fall sale is ending. next Wednesday. So, for just a few more. days, use my promo code sidefall, you'll. get 25% off an annual Law & Crime Plus. subscription. You can enjoy a full year. of true crime commercial free. It's just. $44.99 for the year. So, go to. lawandcrimeplus.com, subscribe today if you want more. information about these big cases. Going.

back to this. So, attorney Dalziel. continues about the settlement. agreement, which I mentioned before. And. their objection to him being personal. representative. And then she mentions. the federal indictment. And this is when. JP's attorney, Russell B. Long, jumps in. and says, "This is irrelevant." Telling. the court, quote, "He was recently. indicted by the federal government on a. cyberstalking charge, but I I think. that's irrelevant to the appointment of. the personal representative. He served.

as a personal representative. All of the. deceased bills have been paid. All of. her property's been dispersed. It's. over." And then just recently, he was. indicted by the federal government for. cyberstalking, nothing related to her. death, which the affidavit attached to. her complaint, which is full of. inaccuracies and I would say untruths, the affidavit attached by the complaint. indicates that my client was responsible. for her death, Mika Miller's death, and. clearly that's untrue because he's not. been charged with murder. And the. federal government's been investigating.

him for two and a half years. And what. they came up with was a cyberstalking. charge. They had the option to charge. him with cyberstalking resulting in. death, and they did not. So, the. allegations in the complaint that are. attached to the complaint are untrue on. their face. Now, I want you to listen to what. Delzell replies. Again, she's. representing uh Mika Miller's mother. Quote, "The argument that a federal. indictment for the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate, or place. under surveillance with the intent to. kill, harass, intimidate Mika Miller.

using interactive computer services, electronic communication services, electronic communication systems of. interstate commerce, or other facilities. of interstate or foreign commerce, the. fact that he's arguing that's irrelevant. to his fitness to be the personal. representative of the estate is. ludicrous. We are here today because he. has circumvented the requirements for. fitness to be the personal. representative by railroading this. family into a settlement agreement three. months after her death. There are other. I'm still talking. So, maybe Long was.

trying to interrupt her, I don't know. for sure. There are other reasons why. the estate needs a personal. representative other than administering. the estate. The family, what if they. need to pursue litigation? What if they. need to pursue another legal matter on. behalf of this estate? He's not the. person that's going to do that given his. position currently with regard to the. allegations of his treatment of her. Whether he caused her death or not is. not relevant here." And then it goes on. to say, "I know there's been a lot of. media scrutiny about that and a lot of. speculation about that. We're not here. to argue that today. We are here to.

argue his fitness as personal. representative of Mika Miller's estate. There's ample case law indicating that. when someone is charged with a crime or. found or convicted of a crime that they. are not fit to be personal. representative. And that's what we're. here to argue today. That's it. Give. this family the opportunity to continue. with the administration of the estate. So, raises an important question. regarding his fitness, the federal. charges seemingly directly tied to the. person whose estate he's supposed to be. managing. And attorney Dalzell really.

highlighting the language of the federal. charges. I thought that was key I. thought that was important. And the. judge ultimately allowed the federal. indictment to come into evidence. Now, there was another part to this. There was another set of allegations. that Dalzell brought up, okay? Quote, "Your Honor, there's also a pending. lawsuit, a civil suit against Mr. Miller. that Randall Hood, McGowan Hood, and. Felder filed. That's also a matter of. public record that alleges sexual abuse.

of two former church members. I'd like. to also hand that up as an exhibit if. possible." Now, I can't say definitively. what this is all about, but we've had. other sidebars before you can check it. out about allegations against J.P. Miller, a lawsuit. So, interesting that. they're bringing it up. Now, Russell. Long objected to this, says it's not. relevant to this current hearing. He. says to the court, quote, "There are two. Jane Doe actions that were brought. claiming a historic like 20-some years. ago contact with these individuals. They.

both claim the same simultaneous. identical memory loss on the same date, and they both claim the same. simultaneous memory recovery on the same. date. They're represented by the same. plaintiff's lawyer. They're allegations, they're not answered uh by discovery in. that case. I've got a motion to compel. So, there's no proof being offered for. those allegations. That complaint is. completely irrelevant to this matter, and it has nothing to do with Mika. Miller or the estate of Mika Miller.". Dalzell responds and says, "I would. argue it is highly relevant. It shows a.

pattern of behavior that is consistent. with the federal behavior alleged in the. federal indictment. It also goes to his. ability to properly administer this. estate while he's defending lawsuits and. paying attorneys and defending criminal. charges. He should not be in charge of. administering Mika Miller's estate. So, that makes this kind of suit relevant in. addition to the allegations within the. lawsuit. And the court had some questions as to. whether it was relevant, kind of. cautious, but ultimately entered into. the record uh these allegations, not as. a judgment of fact, just mere. allegations. But now I want to go to.

something else in this hearing. This is. when Angelita Salis, Micah Miller's. mother, testified during this hearing. And there's a few parts that I want to. highlight. So, for example, she explains. how in her opinion, the relationship. between Micah and JP was {quote} not. good, that they were having. communication issues, that they decided. to a divorce, that they were separated, how JP, in her opinion, was at first. fine with this, and then he was not fine. with it. How she even claims Micah. objected or had concerns about the.

church's finances. And then Salis lays. it out about JP Miller, cuz she's asked, {quote} And in your opinion, is Mr. Miller fit to be the personal. representative of your daughter's. estate? And Salis responds, Absolutely. not. She's questioned, Okay, is there. animosity between you and Mr. Miller and. the rest of the family and Mr. Miller? Salis responds, Absolutely. Okay, real. quick announcement. So, for anybody out. there who's supported me over the years, supported the projects I've been a part.

of over the years, thank you so, so. much. You guys are really the best. There's no other way to say it, you. really are. And we were thinking, what. can we do? Why don't we switch things. up? Why don't we do something different? Why don't you ask me the questions for a. change? Yeah, so what we're doing is. we're giving a few fans a chance to meet. with me virtually one-on-one to ask me. anything. Ask me about the cases I've. covered, behind the scenes, at Sidebar, Prime Crime, really anything you've. always wanted to know. So, what you do. is to enter, you sign up for LawCrime. Plus, you click the link below, you. submit your question for a chance to be. featured in an exclusive Just Ask Jesse.

special. It's the week of Thanksgiving. And right now you can also get 25% off. an annual LawCrime Plus subscription. with promo code Just Ask Jesse. It's. just $44.99 for the entire year. I hope. you can be a part of this. I'm really. looking forward to it. Now, legally speaking, in terms of JP. being the representative of the estate, and the settlement agreement that was. signed, there's a lot of back and forth. There were some questions like. Salas admitting she wasn't present when.

there was discussions about the. agreement, how she signed it when it was. faxed over to her. She claimed she. didn't have a conversation with Regina. Ward or anyone from Regina Ward's office. before she signed it. She claimed she. was told, quote, "It was all or. nothing." That's why she signed it. She. claimed she didn't know that JP would. replace Sierra as the personal. representative. Actually, when being. questioned by attorney Russell Long, he. asked, "Is it your testimony that your. daughter Sierra was wrong when she.

signed this agreement?" And Salas. responds, "That paper was made up. Sierra didn't write that paper. That. paper was written by someone else, and. when it was stapled and put together. with a bunch of other papers, when she. was told, 'Sign this one, sign this one, sign this one,' that stack was in with. these other signatures. You need to sign. here." And she probably didn't even know. completely what she was signing. Salas. claims that, you know, everybody was. worn down, they were tired from this. And it becomes a whole separate legal. question if they can legally object to. JP Miller being the personal.

representative, and can they remove him? And Long was making the point, "Look, you signed this. The family agreed for. JP Miller to be the representative. That. yes, you believe it was a bad decision. for there to be a mechanism by which JP. could be the personal representative.". But he asks, "Are you asking that he be. removed because you guys made a quote. bad decision?". Now, when Ward got on the stand, Ward is. asked about this claim that John Paul. Miller paid to be the personal. representative of this estate. You would. agree with me that's not true, wouldn't.

you? And Regina Ward responds, "That is. not true. It may feel that way to her, but here's two things that happened. Number one is that a special. administrator has limited duties. That's. why they're called a special. administrator." Sierra's duty, and. that's Micah's sister, Sierra's duty as. a special administrator was number one. to collect property that belonged to. Micah that was part that that was known. of, and to collect what should come to. her, which was through the divorce. separation action, which would have been. a division of the marital estate. The. second thing, there were some issues.

with regard to potential civil actions. at this point. So, this agreement. resolved the family court action. It. resolved potential civil actions. And. and by virtue of that, that meant that. Sierra no longer had anything to do. because her job had been completed, which was collected, resolve the pending. family court action, and as a special. administrator to resolve any suits that. should have been brought or could have. been brought against Mr. Miller. She's. questioned, so she stepped into the. shoes of Micah. And Ward responds, correct. And agreed for John Paul Miller.

to serve as a personal representative? Ward responds, well, it didn't matter if. they agreed to it or not. It just put it. in there as a sort of formality. Dalzell. responds, got it. Ward says, because. whenever Sierra completed her job as a. special administrator, then that meant. that there has to be a personal. representative of the estate. And then. it gets a little bit complicated, but. the way that I understand it from this. hearing is that by law, since the job of. the personal representative didn't go to. Micah's parents since no one filed.

anything, automatically, in a way, it. went to J.P. Miller. And Ward says, quote, "Statutorily, he's automatically. the personal representative. In fact, he's always been the personal. representative, and I don't know why. everybody's missed that." And she also. indicated that she had no intention of. testifying, that she didn't want to be. there, that she has no intention of. testifying against Angelita Salas. And. she said it's her understanding of the. law is that there is no waiver for the. family to contest J.P. Miller being.

appointed as personal representative, that they can still do that. So, that. was the hearing, okay? Now, we have the decision from the. judge, the probate judge's decision. It. was dated September 10th of this year, and it reads in part, quote, "The evidence established that the. family and special administrator were. aware of those matters before entering. into the settlement that resulted in. respondent's appointment." Meaning all. the stuff that we talked about, those. allegations. No evidence established by. a preponderance of the evidence that. respondent feloniously and intentionally.

killed the decedent. No evidence. established that respondent mismanaged. the estate, violated any court order, intentionally misrepresented material. facts, or failed to perform his. fiduciary duties. Absent a conviction or. guilty plea, the court may determine by. a preponderance of the evidence, that's. a lower standard, whether the individual. feloniously and intentionally killed the. decedent. The federal indictment is. merely an accusation and does not. establish the truth of the allegations. It is therefore ordered that the. petition to remove John Paul Miller as.

personal representative is denied. So, basically, the judge doesn't feel that. the federal charges, the allegations. against J.P. Miller were enough to. remove him as personal representative at. this point in time, at this stage. Now, I will tell you, despite the judge's. ruling, Mike's family doesn't appear to. be backing down. The court records show. that a formal intent to appeal that. decision was filed back in September. J.P. Miller's federal trial, it has been. postponed to January 2027. And that's.

all we have for you right now here on. Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much. for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.