Trial nears end in same-sex custody case

BURLINGTON — Attorneys are expected to wrap up their defense of a Virginia Mennonite pastor on trial in a Vermont federal court for allegedly helping a woman flee the country with her child rather than share custody with her former lesbian partner.
It’s unclear when the jury could begin deliberating the case of 46-year-old Kenneth Miller of Stuarts, Draft, Va.
Prosecutors say Miller arranged for Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella to travel from Virginia to Nicaragua via Canada with the help of a number of Mennonites.
Isabella was born in 2002 when Lisa Miller was joined in a civil union with Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven.
Kenneth Miller’s attorneys say he didn’t know Jenkins had legal parental rights when he helped the mother and daughter flee.