‘This is over:’ John-Paul Miller, Mica’s family reach agreement ending all legal disputes

CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — John-Paul Miller and the family of his estranged wife Mica on Monday agreed to end all legal disputes and called on protesters to drop demonstrations in front of his Market Common church.

Instead, all sides want to press state lawmakers into adopting a coercive control law in her memory. Attorneys announced the deal following an Horry County Probate Court hearing.

The unified front means all pending lawsuits between Mica’s family, John-Paul and his Solid Rock Ministries have been addressed through a global settlement whose terms are confidential — including control of Mica’s estate.

“This is over. This global agreement is Mica’s justice. The next step is the legislative goal. We only ask that you remember Mica as the wonderful, beautiful person that she was,” said Russell Long, an attorney for John-Paul Miller.

It also means that John-Paul won’t face any civil wrongful death claims tied to Mica’s April 27 suicide at Lumber River State Park in Robeson County.

Shortly after Mica’s death, her sister, Sierra Francis, filed a petition to become special administrator of her estate, but that request was withdrawn Monday, attorneys said.

“I know that some of you are going to be disappointed,” said Regina Ward, a Conway-based attorney representing Mica’s family. “Whenever you’re involved in litigation of this magnitude and this many things to cover, it could take years to go through a court system.”

John-Paul, senior pastor at Solid Rock Church and founder of its umbrella Solid Rock Ministries, has repeatedly blamed Mica’s family for withholding medication that kept her mentally stable, while they said his abusive behavior drove the 30-year-old to suicide.

Since her death, protestors have gathered at the 803 Howard Ave. church every Sunday demanding “Justice for Mica.”

Long said Monday’s settlement should bring an end to the demonstrations.

“The Francis family just asked them, through their attorney, to focus their energy on something else. She asked them to focus their energy toward the passing of this coercive control act,” he said. “I would ask that they leave churchgoers alone. These poor people are just trying to go to church on Sundays, and they’re being harassed and being put in fear.”

Ward, whose Highway 544 law office dons a large, purple-and-white “Justice for Mica” banner, agreed. She said fundraisers are planned to raise awareness for a coercive control law, and a Statehouse rally could be in the works when lawmakers reconvene in January.

“We don’t want to talk about Mr. Miller anymore. We want to move forward to the next chapter, and that is getting this (coercive control) law passed,” Ward said on Monday.

Four years ago, a South Carolina lawmaker filed a bill that would criminalize “coercive control,” with punishments of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Since that time, efforts to get such a law on the books have stalled in both chambers of the General Assembly.

A “coercive control” bill was most recently filed in 2021 by former state Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy of Lexington. However, it never made it out of the Judiciary Committee, which is now led by Conway Republican Luke Rankin.

Here’s how “coercive control” was defined in Shealy’s bill:

• isolating a person from their friends and family
• depriving a person of basic needs
• monitoring a person’s time
• monitoring a person via online communication tools or using spyware
• taking control over aspects of a person’s everyday life, including where the person may go, who the person may see, what a person may wear, and when a person may sleep
• depriving a person access to support services, including medical services
• repeatedly insulting a person, including expressing the person’s worthlessness
• enforcing rules and activities that humiliate, degrade, or dehumanize the person
• forcing a person to take part in criminal activity, including shoplifting and neglect or abuse of children, to encourage the person’s self-blame and prevent disclosure to authorities
• financial abuse, including control of finances and only allowing a person a punitive allowance
• threats to hurt or kill
• threats to a child
• threats to reveal or publish private information or extort the person or a member of the person’s family in retaliation by legal or other means
• assault
• rape
• preventing a person from having access to transport or from working

Several states including California, Connecticut and Hawaii have adopted “coercive control” laws, while similar efforts are pending in Florida, Maryland, New York and Washington, according to the group Americas Conference to End Coercive Control.

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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12 . See more of his work here .

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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook , and X, formerly Twitter . You can also read more of her work, here .

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