Category Archives: Miller-Jenkins

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.

Lisa Miller’s father testifies in

BURLINGTON — Federal prosecutors are outlining the process a woman used as she prepared to flee the United States with her daughter to avoid sharing custody of the child to her former lesbian partner in Vermont.
The case continued Thursday in the trial of a Virginia pastor who’s charged with helping Lisa Miller and her 7-year-old daughter flee.
Lisa Miller’s father, Terry Miller, testified he made a series of phone calls to her in the days before she left and to telephones registered to a Virginia company called Response Unlimited.
Terry Miller said he was trying to let someone at one of the Response Unlimited phones know where she was waiting at a Wal-Mart in the Lynchburg, Va., area.
The trial of Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Va., entered its third day.

Missionary who helped mom flee US to testify

BURLINGTON — An American Mennonite missionary living in Nicaragua is expected to testify in the trial of a Virginia pastor who’s charged with helping a woman flee the United States with her daughter rather than share custody of the girl with the mother’s former lesbian partner in Vermont.
The trial of 46-year-old Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Va., enters its third day on Thursday.
Miller is accused of helping Lisa Miller and her daughter flee the United States and live with Mennonites in Nicaragua to avoid a court order sharing custody of the child with her former partner Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven.
The two women entered a civil union in Vermont then broke up and got into a long custody battle for the girl.

Trial gets under way in civil union custody case

BURLINGTON — A Virginia pastor worked with a number of other people to help a woman flee the United States with her daughter rather than share custody of the girl with the mother’s former lesbian partner, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The trial of Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Va., 46, opened in U.S. District Court in Burlington. In his opening statement, Miller’s lawyer said he will prove his client believed Lisa Miller had full custody of daughter Isabella.
“Kenneth Miller thought that she was the full legal guardian,” defense lawyer Joshua Autry said.
Miller, a Mennonite pastor, is charged with aiding and abetting in international kidnapping. Continue reading