A Mennonite pastor has been convicted as an accessory to kidnapping for helping a Vermont woman abscond the country to escape a same-sex custody case.
Kenneth Miller, a resident Stuarts Draft, Virginia, was ordered jailed beginning March 22 for his role in assisting Lisa Miller flee the United States with her daughter, Isabella, in 2009. Both Millers are not related to one another.
Judge William Sessions III, the U.S District Court justice who heard the case, has ordered Kenneth Miller to be remanded to prison to serve a 27-month sentence which was pushed back pending his appeal to the court, NBC said.
According to Miller, he will not be pursuing additional appeals, and will serve his more than two-year sentence, KITV reported based on a statement he made on his blog, millercase.org.
Miller’s counsel, Brooks McArthur, further said it was a “fair resolution” to the six-year case, saying the assistant district attorney and other federal prosecutors had aggressively handled the prosecution, but treated his client with respect.
Kenneth Miller helped Lisa Miller escape the country back in 2009 to help her avoid a custody case with her same-sex partner, Janet Jenkins of Vermont, ABC News said. Kenneth Miller was found to have orchestrated the getaway, including finding a new home for Lisa Miller and Isabella in Central America.
At the time of their disappearance, Lisa Miller had been ordered by a Vermont family court to allow Jenkins visitation rights to Isabella, now 13.
Lisa Miller and Jenkins wed in a civil ceremony in Vermont in 2000, just after it became the first U.S. state to recognize same-sex marriage. Isabella was conceived via artificial insemination shortly after.
While the appeals court had ruled against Kenneth Miller back in December, the federal court judge signed the order on Feb. 2, Tuesday, ordering him to report to prison to begin his sentence.
