First thing this morning one of the jurors was dismissed from the court because she admitted to discussing the case with others. There are now 9 ladies and 3 men serving as jury.
I failed to mention yesterday that some believers from OH are also present. Today there were not as many from the VT churches but a few more brethren arrived from PA. I counted about 55 in the morning and afternoon sessions. A local man from Burlington who described himself as a Mennonite was also present. Some whole families are present which is a blessing for Ken’s family and a testimony to God’s grace in our communities as well. Many were fasting today. Very few are attending as supporters of the prosecution. Janet Jenkins will be called as a witness on Friday. This could be the reason she is not in court as the witnesses are sequestered until after their testimony.
Today the prosecution called several more witnesses. First a lady gave a testimony about phone records. Next, Terry — father to Lisa Miller — was asked to give testimony about a visit with Lisa and Isabella that occurred at his place the week prior to her departure and about various phone records over that time. Then a lady from a vehicle recovery service gave a testimony about being called to pick up Lisa’s car at a Wal-Mart in Feb. of 2010, at least 5 months after it was parked there.
Linda Rose Miller from Golden Rule Travel was called next. I thought she did quite well as a witness-very clear and composed. During her cross-examination by the defense, she gave a clear expression of Ken’s character as a believer and noted that she recently interviewed Ken for an upcoming book about his miraculous deliverance from a mob during his time of interim missionary service in Kenya. The prosecution protested these questions being asked by the defense and the “hushers” were turned on while a little conference was held by the judge and lawyers. Their decision was that she should remain sequestered as a witness and may be called upon later to give more testimony.
Before and after lunch there was extensive testimony and charts presented detailing the telephone calls between Lisa Miller, Ken Miller, Philip Zodhiates, and Ervin Horst during and following Lisa’s travel from VA to Toronto. A Google representative testified briefly about Google’s record keeping procedures and about various e-mails obtained by a search warrant. Then a PA German language and culture specialist testified about his role in translating some e-mails into English for the government. During his testimony he mentioned that he’s part of a men’s group that gathers on Feb. 2 of each year to participate in a ceremony honoring groung hogs as weather prophets. Judge William Sessions, who has a way of including a little dry humor in the courtroom, could not hide his amusement and asked the witness a few more questions until the whole assembly was laughing at the idea of a group of men holding a ceremony with an eight foot high ground hog. Ken’s lawyer said he doesn’t think he ever saw anything like it in a court session.
The last part of the day was spent watching a video deposition of Timo Miller taken under oath last Dec. When the prosecutors dropped charges against him. The prosecutors had requested that two short parts of Timo’s deposition would be eliminated because the felt it would hurt their case but the judge that in the interest of full knowledge the whole thing should be shown. This video took the place of Timo’s personal appearance because of mitigating family circumstances at home in Nicaragua. Timo said that he didn’t think he was doing anything illegal because he believed Lisa had full custody of Isabella at the time she left and he was unaware of the laws regarding visitation rights. He said the things that appear as attempts to hide were done so simply the whole thing would not be overly exposed if the court would later rule in Janet’s favor.
The prosecution expects to finish calling witnesses on Friday.
More information is available at millercase.org.
A street meeting service was planned for this evening at the fountain on Church St. in Burlington.
Loyal Martin
External link added by Mark Roth:
Miller Case: Trial Day Two