Yesterday, Janet Jenkins got the first measure of justice.  If you'll remember, back in 2009 her former lesbian partner, Lisa Miller, fled the country with her daughter Isabella rather than comply with a court order to turn over sole custody of Isabella to Jenkins.  Well, yesterday Mennonite pastor Kenneth Miller (no relation) was convicted of helping Lisa Miller flee the country.  

Well, earlier today Jenkins significantly upped the ante by filing a civil RICO suit against Miller and several others who helped Lisa Miller flee with Isabella.  People for the American Way managed to snag a copy.  Included in the suit are several heavy hitters--including several organs of the ministry network founded by Jerry Falwell, including Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University Law School.

The suit alleges that Lisa Miller, having repeatedly flouted numerous court orders to let Jenkins have visitation rights, began making plans to flee the country in the summer of 2008.  With the help of employees from Christian direct-mail firm Response Unlimited as well as members of the Mennonite sect of which Kenneth Miller is a member, Lisa Miller fled to Canada in September 2009 with Isabella, and eventually made it to Nicaragua.  Nobody knows where the two of them are now.  

At the time she fled the country, Lisa Miller was a member of Thomas Road and taught at Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg.  Thomas Road, Liberty Law School and other elements of the Falwell empire helped lead the charge in portraying Lisa Miller as a victim of persecution.  However, the suit alleges that Thomas Road, Liberty Law School and Lisa Miller's lawyers--including Liberty Law dean Mat Staver--actively helped Lisa Miller flout the visitation order.  Several leaders at Thomas Road advised Lisa Miller not to let Isabella anywhere near Jenkins, and two Thomas Road elders packed Lisa Miller's personal belongings and helped send them to Nicaragua shortly after Lisa Miller left the country.  Most damningly, the suit hammers on evidence introduced at Kenneth Miller's trial that Response Unlimited's president, Philip Zodhiates, made numerous calls to phone numbers associated with Liberty Counsel, the law firm affiliated with Liberty Law School, on the day Lisa Miller fled the country.  This directly contradicts Staver's public claims that Lisa Miller simply packed up and left without the knowledge of anyone at Thomas Road.