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While our Jenn Wood and Andy Fancher were on the road gathering new information on the mysterious supposed suicide of South Carolina pastor’s wife Mica Miller, I sat down with prominent Palmetto State attorney Lauren Taylor to get her initial insights on this high-profile case – and several potential legal battles that could follow from it.
Lauren and I also discussed last week’s surprise decision by a Lowcountry judge to delay the case of Michael Colucci, a Summerville S.C. jeweler who was set to stand trial this week a second time for the 2015 murder of his wife, Sara Colucci.
Our audience will recall Lauren appearing with me during the ‘Murdaugh Murders‘ evidentiary hearing earlier this year – and for her insights on other cases we’ve covered in recent months.
On the Miller case, Lauren discussed the possibility of future wrongful death actions that could conceivably be filed against Mica Miller’s husband, pastor John-Paul “JP” Miller.

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“We’ve seen a lot of these cases really push the envelope for how far are we gonna go in holding someone liable when something happens,” Taylor said. “You know, he didn’t put the gun in her hand but did he drive her to that point and without his actions would she still be here today? That’s going to be the crux of the wrongful death lawsuit.”
On the Colucci case, Taylor reviewed the flurry of motions filed by the defense in the days leading up to the recent delay. Among those motions? An attempt to prevent prosecutors from “using prejudicial terms.”
“One of the things I thought was a really good strategy on the part of the defense was they don’t want (prosecutors) to use the word ‘victim,’ ‘homicide,’ ‘confession,’ ‘strangle,’ ‘struggle’ … or anything like that,” Taylor said. “A jury is sitting there like little sponges absorbing all of this stuff. Those words evoke a tone in your mind of (an) ‘evil, bad person,’ (and) that’s going to lead you a couple steps closer to a guilty verdict.”
As she always does, Taylor cut through the spin and the one-sidedness surrounding these cases – bringing expert analysis and insightful commentary focused on the facts and the legal filings.
Watch the full interview here …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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