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I don't know what to even say right now.But between the legal bullying from J.P.
Miller, Russell B. Long, and Greg Parker, and the horrific Horry County Police report we found yesterday, and the odd response that we got from officials, I am disgusted by our system.And I keep asking the same question.
How does this keep getting worse?My name is Manny Matney.This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders podcast.True Sunlight is a LunaShark production written with journalist Liz Farrell.
Well, phew, I don't think I've been this stressed since March of 2023, so I'm going to ease into this episode with some sunshine.
We are really excited for two special premium events this week, a virtual broadcast of our 100th episode of Cup of Justice recording this Friday, September 27th at 7 p.m. This will be open to all premium members.And wow, 100 episodes.
That is wild to say.And also, don't worry, the episode will be available to everyone on Tuesday as normal.And then,
On Saturday, September 28th at 5pm, we are inviting our amazing LunaShark Premium members to join us in person at Coco's on the Beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina to celebrate that and so much more.
When we started the Murdoch Murders podcast in June of 2021, All I ever wanted to do with the show was to get the story straight for legacy media misreporting news particularly about the kids on the boat in 2019.
I wanted to give a voice to Stephen Smith by helping his mom Sandy find answers, and I wanted to expose the truth about our two systems of justice which allowed these terrible crimes to take place.
I never thought we would reach number one on Apple or anywhere near those and consistently rank for years in top podcasts globally.
I also never thought that we could launch Cup of Justice with Liz and Eric and also reach number one on Apple with that feed.I also had a hard time thinking that we would actually make it beyond the Murdoch trial with both shows.
Nor did I ever see us publishing over 300 episodes of all our shows combined on both the premium and the public feeds.
Nor did I think that we would welcome nearly 10,000 members to LunaShark Premium, or have our episodes listened to over 100 million times and reach almost 25 million people across the globe.
Nor did I ever imagine delivering over 200 million advertisements for brands that support the mission that we stand behind.And I am really proud to have developed friendships and relationships with strong women across the globe doing amazing things.
and lots of great men too.We are proud to have the support of Hulu and Universal that believe in our work so much we're making a series with an incredible team of writers and producers that will premiere next year if all goes to plan.
We are proud to speak with thousands of university students, sharing that staying pesky can bring us all into the sunlight.
Shout out to the University of Missouri, Indiana University, and my alma mater, the University of Kansas, who we will be visiting over the next few weeks.Check our events page for dates, details, and updates.
But most of all, I am awestruck that we would make such a profound impact with our shows as seen by convicted murderer Ellick Murdoch remaining behind bars, returning convicted killer Gerard Price to prison, and changing the way our judges are elected in South Carolina.
and calling out the vast number of horrible lawyers, judges, and systemic failures in so many horrific cases, and to say that we aren't done yet.
So thank you for being such an amazing community of listeners, premium members, sources, sponsors, partners, and guests. We love you and we want you to celebrate with us, including Liz, who's coming to South Carolina this weekend.
We will see you on Friday night at the Cup of Justice broadcast or Saturday evening on the beach.Click the link in the description to learn how.So regardless of how y'all support us, thank you.
Before we get started, we want to do a very quick update about Russell can't admit defeat Lafitte and his appeal, which was heard by a panel of three judges on Wednesday morning at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.
I know some of you, your first question is going to be, was Russell there?
We don't know, because we actually listened to the arguments over livestream, but there was no reason for Russell to be there, and we're told that defendants, especially those currently wearing prison jammies, typically don't attend their federal appeal hearings.
Okay, so, reminder, Russell is a Nepo baby.He was president of Palmetto State Bank, and he is the not-enough-acclaimed star of Russell TV.
He was found guilty in November 2022 of six counts related to Ellick Murdoch's fraudulent schemes to steal money from Ellick's clients.Russell was sentenced to seven years in federal prison last summer.
He spent mad amounts of money trying to escape consequence and basically all but left scratch marks on the walls when he was finally ordered to report to prison last September. Which by the way, Happy Prisonversary, Russell!
On the 28th, it will be one year since he finally ran out of delay tactics and was forced to drive down to Florida to check into prison. Now, Russell isn't just a Nepo baby who fought the hardest to stay out of prison.
He's also whatever the equivalent of dining and dashing is in the legal community.He skipped out on his presumably very large legal bill with Nelson Mullins, and that's according to court records.
Nelson Mullins is one of the top law firms in the state, so I imagine they're expensive. And I say skipped out, but it's not clear whether he ever made good on that.
And it's not clear whether he is facing the same problems with his new firm, Maynard Nexon, which is another top law firm in the state.
Either way, it must be really hard for Russell now that he does not have children trust accounts at his disposal to tap into anymore.So there were a few issues at hand on Wednesday. One was that Russell says his Fifth Amendment rights were violated.
That would be his due process.He also maintains that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated.That would be his right to an impartial jury.
He says that Judge Richard Gergel erred when he made the decision to dismiss a juror who appeared to be in medical distress, apparently caused by her fellow jurors who allegedly didn't see things the same way she did when it came to Russell's guilt.
Two, is that Russell says the district court erred again by not allowing him to question bank board members about their intentions to buy back their shares, meaning Russell's team couldn't impeach the witnesses based on this idea that the board was throwing Russell under the bus because Russell's branch of the family opposed the plan.
Three, Russell contends that there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict him, which there was so much evidence, so I don't know how he can make that argument with a straight face.
And four, the government contends that Judge Gergel erred by not forcing Russell to pay interest on his restitution to the bank and PMPED.You know, the victims.They're just going to bat for old PMPED and Palmetto State Bank again.
So here's what happened on Wednesday when Russell's attorney, Billy Wilkins, made his argument that Judge Gergel was wrong to dismiss juror 88.
Billy Wilkins is a colleague of Russell's attorney, Mark Moore, who is also one of the attorneys representing gas station magnate Greg Parker in the Beach Family civil conspiracy case, which we'll talk about in a bit.
Wilkins is a heavy hitter in Greenville, South Carolina, and he has a lot of influence, according to multiple sources. So this starts with U.S.Judge Toby Heightens being like, I don't buy your argument.
And I'm going to play this so that you can get a feel for the tenor of this hearing.
Can I ask you what strikes me as the hardest question in this case for me?So let's just pause it on juror 88.I don't think you have any plausible argument.I don't hear you making it.
I don't think you have any plausible argument that the district court did anything wrong by talking to juror 88 ex parte because the parties all expressly consented to that happening. And then the government said it needs to be on the record.It is.
I'm literally looking at the transcript of the district court's conversation with juror 88.So I get that.And then at the end of this colloquy, the court asks juror 88. Do you feel you can perform or do you want me to replace you with an alternate?
Sorry, that's not the important part.He says, the court says, this is at SJA 3311.The issue is, are you able to perform your duties as a juror?Juror 88, at this point, no.
I guess my real difficult question is, what is the district court supposed to do at that point?Because if a juror says they can't perform their duties as a juror, I don't understand how he can't dismiss that juror at that point.
You can't let someone be on a jury who's told you they can't perform their duties as a juror.What is he supposed to do when she says that?
Well, I'll say what he's supposed to do, Your Honor.
First of all, he asked the jury, do you want me to replace you?No, no.I'm asking in response, when a juror says in response to, can you perform your duties as the juror, the juror says, no.
Do you think there's any world in which the district court doesn't have to replace that juror?
How would it not be reversible error to not reverse a juror who says they can't perform their duties?He should do what every circuit in this country that has addressed this issue says you should do.That's the D.C.
Circuit, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th, and the 11th.
All have held that a district court may not dismiss a jury during deliberations if there is a reasonable possibility that the request to be dismissed stems from that juror's feelings about the sufficiency of the government's case.
Things didn't really seem to be going Russell's way at first, but when the government made its argument, the court showed that it had concerns when it came to Russell's claims related to Judge Gergel's decision to remove Juror 88 as opposed to declaring a mistrial or sending the jury home to cool off before deciding what to do about it.
Kathleen Stone, who was arguing for the government, maintained that Russell waived his right to contest the decision to remove the juror when he didn't contest the judge's announcement that he was going to talk to the juror and see if action needed to be taken.
Here's Judge Heitens again with his questions.
I'm just going to say that strikes, I think, I guess I'll just say, it strikes me that you're right on the medication and wrong on this.
I agree 100% that he waived his right to be present when they talk, and I understand your friend on the other side to agree that.Where do they possibly agree to the judge excusing Juror 88?
I mean, you place a lot of emphasis, pretty much exclusive emphasis, on a remark the district court sort of makes as, I mean, I'm just envisioning this scene, and I guess I,
Like, I'm just envisioning that the district court is, if he's not literally standing up, he is starting to stand up and say, I'm going to do this and I'm going to take action.
And he walks out of the courtroom and no one stands up and says, judge, what does that mean?Or something like that.
But like, other than this, I will say to me, at minimum, fatally ambiguous statement about taking action and whatever the heck that means.I don't understand how they waive the argument specifically
We agreed to let you go talk to this juror as long as you made a record at the government's request, but we understood that what was going to happen is after you talk to her, we were going to come back in this room and have a conversation, not you come back and announce that you've dismissed her.
Where do they waive that argument?
So I think it's important to look at the whole context of the conversation we're having.This discussion about juror 988 was prompted by her sending a letter to the judge that said, can you please call an alternate?
I'm experiencing anxiety and I'm unable to clearly make my decision.So our whole discussion about 88 is whether she's a viable juror at all.Right.
As for Russell's contention that there wasn't enough evidence to convict him, and as to the government's contention that the restitution order should be vacated, the attorneys put their arguments on the record and there were no questions.
So, do we think Russell has a good chance of getting his conviction overturned.People we've spoken to so far have been split on this, but we're leaning toward no.
At its core, it comes down to what went on in the jury room prior to Juror 88's panic attack, and the courts really don't like to go there.
Judge Gergel had warned the juror not to tell him about anything related to deliberation in terms of the verdict.
And though by nature of her request to leave and the quick guilty verdict that came afterward, and her offering up unsolicited details to Judge Gergel anyway, we can assume she was not sure that Russell was guilty.
And even though the court did note that Judge Gergel wasn't constricted to the option of just removing the juror immediately, the government's argument was that her panic attack was tantamount to a medical emergency like going into labor or having signs of a heart attack.
meaning by their argument, prior court rulings related to the dismissal of a dissenting juror shouldn't apply here.So it's a tough one.
In Elk's case, we feel very certain that Team Murdoch is taking Becky Hill's unprofessional behavior and taking a juror's buyer's remorse and they are trying their hardest to make it into a jury tampering cocktail.
But we're not as certain about what Judge Gergel should have done with Russell. We do know that Judge Gergel is highly regarded, and in particularly highly regarded by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
We also know this isn't his first rodeo, meaning he seemed very aware of sealing up his record in Russell's case during the trial two years ago.
At any rate, that was Russell, can't admit defeat, Lafitte's last big chance at pretending he didn't do anything wrong. When the Court of Appeals makes its ruling, we will let you know.
Okay, so we wanna talk about some significant updates in the J.P.Miller case.For those of y'all who might be wondering what old J.P.Miller is up to, well, he filed his first defamation lawsuit related to his wife's death last week.
The suit was filed by J.P.Miller and Solid Rock Church Attorney, Russell B. Long, or Russell B. Wrong, as we like to call him, because, well, you'll see. Now, we knew that J.P.Miller would be litigious in this story pretty much from day one.
Soon after Micah's death, as media pressure continued to heat up around J.P., he made one big move that we saw as one of his most defining moments of the story.
JP, through his attorney, Russell B. Wrong, or Long, issued a blanketed press release slash cease and desist to a handful of local media outlets and TikTokers in early May.
And like Liz said in episode 51, the letter gave us just a glimpse of the kind of gaslighting pressure bolstered by S.E.attorneys that Micah likely felt around the time of her death.
I want to have David read a piece of that to remind you all, because, wow.
We hereby demand that all individuals and media outlets cease and desist from perpetuating these harmful falsehoods.Any further dissemination of defamatory and libelous statements will be met with legal action.
A complete inventory of these defamatory and libelous statements has been conducted. Those that have, to date, violated Pastor Miller's right to live in peace and to mourn the passing of his wife respectfully will be held accountable.
Those that choose to allow any previously posted or published false statements about Pastor Miller to remain in the public domain can expect to be served with civil litigation against them individually and, when appropriate,
Their media organizations and managerial supervisors can expect the same.
That letter essentially said in fancy lawyer letterhead, thou shall stop talking bad about JP.And it said other weird things, like pointing out the fact that he didn't groom Micah starting at age 10.That's silly, because he met her at 15.
And here's the thing that he didn't mention, he was 30 at the time.Like they act like 15 is so much better than 10.
Anyway, in our opinion, that letter showed us who JP was, a man who appeared to have secrets to hide and a man who wanted to scare off anyone who would dare to expose him.
That letter also told us, in our opinion, that JP was a man who chose to be represented by a lawyer who didn't appear to be bright and completely lacked understanding of what defamation actually is.
a lawyer who apparently doesn't know how to use spellcheck as he has shown us time and time again.
And also, he's a lawyer who apparently doesn't listen to this podcast or understand how to Google because how many times do we have to say that opinions are not defamatory?Anyway, J.P.
and Russell B. Long didn't stop there with their little letter-writing campaign.After her first appearance on True Sunlight in May, Micah's best friend Charlotte received a cease-and-desist letter from J.P.and Russell.
The letter claimed to be from the law office of Russell B. Long. But when we first saw it, it was hard to imagine that in a land of no consequences for the good ol' boys, a.k.a.South Carolina, this man could have a law license.
It's hard to think that any lawyer would be dumb enough to put their name on a letter like this one.
Because guys, he literally misspelled cease and desist and hearsay in the same short little letter that was intended to scare and silence Micah's best friends and one of her fiercest advocates.Here is David reading a tiny part of that absurd letter.
Making false statements is actionable within the laws of South Carolina.Any said evidence you may have in your possession should be released to our office as soon as possible for examination of authenticity.
If you do not have any supporting information for the statements being made, those statements will be considered defamatory, fabricated, hearsay, or simply opinion.
We ask that you cease and desist all oral and written remarks that are false, unsupported, and unfounded by evidence.
To allege by opinion, hearsay, or fabrication, especially crimes, is actionable within the court and we are prepared to take legal action if you decide to dismiss this notice and continue without supported information.
Please remove any and all allegations, opinion, or statements by hearsay immediately and cease from placing new fabricated information, whether online, by phone, or in person.
Again, the mentions of opinions there and the failure to understand that they are not defamatory.Google it, Russell.Please.
The letter does not accuse Charlotte of saying anything particularly defamatory, just that she should stop talking about him and hand over her evidence against him, which is... Not how the law works in this country, by the way.
And again, isn't that abusing the legal system?Aren't lawyers supposed to understand the law better than us girlies who know how to Google?
Charlotte had a good chuckle when she got that letter because she understands the law, unlike Russell B. Wrong.And guess what?She wasn't the one who got sued by JP last week.
Likely because the best defense against libel is the truth, which we believe is on Charlotte's side. So on September 17th, J.P.Miller filed a lawsuit against paralegal Melissa Mancari in Horry County, South Carolina.
We will tell you all about what it says and why it is so weird in a moment after a quick break.And we'll be right back. Fall is here and everyone's getting back from vacation, heading back to school.And you know what that means?
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So, the lawsuit filed against a Myrtle Beach area paralegal who JP says made false claims about him on multiple social media sites.I'll have David read just a couple paragraphs from that lawsuit so y'all get the point.
On or about August 30, 2024, defendant falsely and with malice aforethought made an appearance on, quote, the Robbie Harvey, end quote, at the Robbie Harvey, a YouTube channel with over 105,000 subscribers, claiming to be employed as a paralegal in a local domestic relations law firm.
In this interview, Defendant claimed to have spoken with Plaintiff many months prior on a telephone call, purportedly a call initiated by the Plaintiff to seek marital legal advice.
Defendant published to the audience at that time that Plaintiff told her that he wanted to, quote, destroy, end quote, his wife, and was seeking an attorney that would help pursue that endeavor.
Defendant then went on in the interview proclaiming that she believed that Plaintiff either murdered his wife or had a role in the death of his wife, neither of which is true.
Plaintiff's wife's death had been, at the time of this publication, ruled a suicide by the authorities in Robeson County, North Carolina, the location of her self-inflicted demise.
The following day, August 31, 2024, Defendant made another social media appearance for the sole purpose of defaming and destroying the reputation of the plaintiff.On this occasion, the Defendant appeared on a TikTok influencers account.
for a two-part extended interview for the sole purpose of proliferating the false and harmful claims about plaintiff.Again, defendant shared lies and untruths about defendant on the TikTok channel, Steph's Case Files.
claiming to have spoken with defendant in her capacity as a paralegal months prior, making false statements alleged to be quotes by plaintiff and sharing her beliefs that plaintiff was an abusive husband and was responsible for his wife's death.
This two-part interview was viewed by thousands of people.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that after this interview, JP started seeing videos of himself on social media posted from a location next to his attorney Tom Winslow's office.
And he asked around that neighboring attorney's office and figured out that Melissa worked at the office where he said he was being filmed from.
The next day on TikTok, again spelled wrong, Melissa claimed that JP stopped by her office and threatened her, which JP and Russell say that her boss disputed and quote, this being just another one of the defendant's outrageous lies about plaintiff.
JP claims that he has suffered damages to his reputation as a result of this.And furthermore, the paralegals alleged lies about JP have gasp, quote, caused a local stir. They actually said that in the lawsuit.
And they said this local stir has resulted in residents stalking, harassing, and threatening JP.Newsflash to them, that has been going on long before the paralegal ever made any claims.
So, as a reporter, I've read hundreds of lawsuits, enough to see red flags like the big ones here.
The spelling, the vague phrasing when specifics are essential for proof, and the amount of unnecessary garbage included in the claims made my reporter red flags rise right up.First of all,
It is wild that Russell B. Wrong phrases her statement as a belief, which is essentially her opinion.He is claiming that Melissa said that she believes JP either murdered his wife or had a role in her death, not that she stated that as a fact.
Also, JP, I'll take this one step further.
I believe that JP Miller had a role in the death of Micah Miller, meaning that I believe that if he would have allowed her to divorce him and leave him a year ago when she initially filed for divorce, I believe that she would be alive today.
I have arrived at that conclusion based on the documented evidence of abuse that we have uncovered in the last three months.Whether Micah pulled the trigger or not does not matter to me and my personal beliefs of wanting to see J.P.
Miller held to account. But also, yes, Robeson County officials concluded very quickly that Micah ended her own life.This is well documented in public records.
So why are they bothering to mention a belief in a defamation claim, if not to just muddy the waters?
Second, as Liz pointed out on Twitter, it is telling that JP denied the claim of having anything to do with Micah's death, which again, he says Melissa stated as an opinion, not a fact, so that doesn't even matter.
But in this defamation lawsuit about her statements, he does not deny that he called her law office and quote, told her that he wanted to destroy his wife and was seeking an attorney to help pursue that endeavor. So, was that another slip?
Wouldn't that be the biggest claim since she stated it as a fact that happened? Oh, and speaking of claims, J.P.
Miller, you know, the pastor who previously tried to claim in divorce court that he made around $38,000 a year in salary while he was dodging childcare costs, that guy wants $6 million in damages for these false claims that he suffered so much from.
There are many wild and weird things happening with this lawsuit.But quickly, let's go back to the LunaShark Premium episode on defamation, where reporter Sam Berlin interviewed defamation attorney Becky Lindahl.And let's start with the very basics.
So what exactly is defamation and libel?There's libel per se, slander, and too much legal jargon, but let's break it down.By definition, defamation is the action of harming someone's reputation.
In order to prove defamation, an individual must be able to prove four elements. The four elements are 1.Damage or harm 2.False statement of fact that is proven not to be an opinion 3.Of and concerning or about the individual and 4.
It has to be published Notice the emphasis on harm to someone's reputation and damage.JP is going to have a tough time with this one because he has damaged his own reputation. J.P.
Miller is the one who decided to address his estranged wife's death in the weirdest way possible, by delivering his entire sermon the day after she died before announcing that Micah killed herself at a point where the police had not concluded that yet.
In just one tweet, the clip of him oddly announcing Micah's death was seen by over 16 million people.And y'all, read the comments.Thousands of people formed their own negative opinions about JP before any paralegal came along.
That tweet caught media's attention from around the world and got reporters like our team filing FOIA requests and searching for legal documents to find out more about this pastor whose wife suddenly died. In one of those legal documents, J.P.
Miller's ex-wife, Allison Williams, accused him of inappropriate behavior with teenage girls in the church.And she said that the church elders completely failed to report that.
She indicated that it was criminal, saying that she tried to get them to go to the police. In another legal document, Micah Miller herself told police that JP groomed her from the time they met when she was a child.
So OK, if we want to start with claims against Pastor JP Miller that he should worry about, I think as a society, pedophilia would be a more important claim to dispute than some paralegal claiming on a couple YouTube and TikTok shows that JP threatened her.
Also, notice that the only specific number that JP gave for the alleged damage done to his reputation was Robbie Harvey's YouTube following of over 100,000.
But then he said, quote unquote, thousands have seen these false claims made by Melissa without giving any real evidence of those numbers.
And in reality, thousands of viewers listening to this local paralegal is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the millions of people who have watched JP through his own actions trying to destroy Micah and her family.
Remember Micah's list, the long list of accusations attorney Regina Ward compiled to depict what coercive control actually looks like and what Micah alleged that JP did to her while they were married.
Here's a couple of those shocking accusations that we need to remind you all of. The accusation that J.P.deprived Micah of her basic needs.The accusation of J.P.expressing Micah's worthlessness, claiming that J.P.
allegedly told Micah she was lazy and mentally ill and she wasn't a Christian woman if she questioned him or didn't submit to his dark secrets. Also noteworthy when talking about JP's reputation, the medical abuse alleged in Micah's List.
Micah's List claims that JP declared Micah bipolar, forced her to take lithium, a prescription of his own, monitor whether she complied with taking the pills, and would forcefully give her steroid shots.
And it says that JP would make her swallow pills, and if he thought that she didn't take them, he would cut them up and put those pills in her food. Oh, and a few other accusations.
Cruelty to Micah's dog, which, oh my gosh, we'll have a crazy update on that in just a moment.Another one, destruction of property.Oh, and misuse of legal documents and the legal process. which, hello, what are we doing here?If J.P.
Miller was truly concerned about his reputation and wants to blame someone for that, wouldn't he start by disputing each claim in Micah's list and filing a lawsuit against attorney Regina Ward, who published that list?
Or is she too big of an opponent for old J.P.and Russell to face? Or maybe JP should sue himself for the telling text messages that he sent and damaged his own reputation.
Like the one that he sent to Micah's family just hours after she was found dead, saying, good job, Francis family.This is what happens when you encourage someone to divorce the person they love. Oh, and to really cement the fact that J.P.
's reputation was damaged long before any paralegal on YouTube entered the picture, over 110,000 people just on YouTube watched the NewsNation tell-all interview this summer, which J.P.chose to do.
And let me have David read the top 5 comments on that interview, just to give y'all an idea of how the public perceives J.P.Miller.
Putting a tracker on her car, messing with her tires, and posting an inappropriate picture of her is absolutely abuse, dude.1.1 thousand likes.Also, why is everything about him?Because he's a narcissist.This is wild to watch.
He's absolutely delusional.He keeps stating how great their relationship was. There is a mountain of evidence that says the exact opposite.So sick, it's scary.We need Micah's law.So divorcing partners can't take possession of the other's body.
Him being allowed to be with her dead body is outrageous.We can't all be wrong.This man drove her insane.Rest in peace, Micah.
Essentially, when you are someone in J.P.Miller's category, where you are largely rejected and not believed by the public because of your own actions, it is really hard to prove reputational damage.
Here is attorney Becky Lindahl from the LunaShark Premium Deep Dive on defamation. available to everyone through the link in the description.And please y'all, check it out.
Sambra Lynn did a phenomenal job tackling the ins and outs of defamation and I am thoroughly convinced, in my opinion, that she and anyone who listens to this episode understands defamation more than JP and his attorneys.
Here again is defamation attorney Becky Lindahl explaining why defamation claims become much more difficult when the plaintiff has a bad reputation to begin with.
Perception is reality, right?So if you have a bad reputation and you're trying to prove reputational damages, then your damages number is going to go down.And that's what the defendant's always looking at.
Liability would be one victory, to get out on liability.But then another victory, if you can't get out on liability, is to get that damages number as close to zero as you can.
And that's where a good defense lawyer defending a defamation claim is going to hire a private investigator to go find out what your reputation is.They're going to look at all your social media.
They're going to find the neighbor who you pissed off by parking in their driveway once and go talk to them.Is that really what you want in your life?
Normally, I would say this would be good.Could the lawsuit backfire and cause dirt to be unearthed on old JP?Maybe. But unlikely.I don't see this lawsuit even going that far, because JP cannot get past prong one.
It would be nearly impossible to show damage to his reputation when his reputation was undoubtedly already at a low point when the paralegal allegedly made false statements about him.
But what bothers me is that with our current system, it doesn't even matter.I told y'all how I was sued in 2022, and that claim was completely frivolous as a judge ultimately decided last year.
But that lawsuit sat for two years before I was officially dismissed. David and I spent over $30,000 defending that claim because our system has no process for a case like this one that doesn't even pass the first whiff of a smell test.
In my case, the truth was on my side, the law was on my side, and I was privileged enough to have the money to find a good defamation attorney. in case the system went haywire.
I lost a lot of sleep thinking about what if my case ended up with a judge who I had called out in my reporting.
So I paid for the best attorney I could find, simply in fear of getting screwed by the same justice system we have exposed in this podcast. But I learned from that.I learned a lot from that.
I learned that the system welcomes baseless claims, perhaps because our legislator is run mostly by attorneys who profit from this.
And it typically takes years for those claims to be dismissed, even if you do everything right and there really is no claim to begin with.
I've learned that there are rarely consequences for lawyers who take on these frivolous cases that are nothing more than litigious bullying and abusing the justice system.
If you do want your money back, or if you want the attorney to be held accountable in your case, You have to pay more money for your attorney to fight for that, and it is essentially a game of exhaustion.
A game in which narcissists, with lawyers on their side, love.For us, it was not worth the headache to continue to fight for accountability in a case that I had already won.
But I do want to say as a side note, to the few hundred thousand people listening to this episode, Shame on you, Bill Padgett of the HHP Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina.
Shame on you for filing that frivolous case against me that never had a chance of succeeding.Shame on you for not dropping it when you should have.And shame on you for filing other
Meritless claims against other hardworking journalists who did nothing wrong.We all have a job to do, but you chose to do this with your law degree.I don't forgive and I don't forget.
I will continue to tell anyone who listens in the Columbia, South Carolina area that you, Bill Padgett of the HHP Law Group, that you chose to legally bully journalists.
Your decision to bolster the BS claims against me by choosing to represent an unhinged woman who harassed me for years and even threatened a judge with scorched earth.
Well, your decision to file that lawsuit emboldened those against me and largely contributed to the depression that I am still recovering from.
Maybe in the future, lawyers like yourself will pause and say no when they are tempted to make a cheap buck off of a baseless claim.Or maybe you will continue to poorly represent lawyers in South Carolina.Your parents must be so proud.
Sorry, that was a side note, because I really needed to say those things.Baseless defamation claims are obviously personal to me.
And it is important to me as a journalist to share where I'm coming from and why I believe the attorneys who use their law licenses, which provide them special privilege above the law that everyone else has to follow, emboldens dangerous people and play a huge part in the problem.
That said, in my opinion, Russell B. Long slash Russell B. Wrong has proven himself a number of times through this lawsuit, through his cease and desist claims, and through his absurd statements made during that wacky press conference in July where he said no one is investigating JP.
He has proven to us that he is just another good old boy attorney who does not care about the truth, about the law, or about the greater good of society.He has gone to bat for J.P.Miller and Solid Rock Church from day one.But the question is why?
If we're talking about reputation, can I just say, no one cared about Rusty Russell in Myrtle Beach before he started going to war for J.P.Miller in May.He was known locally, but he was a far cry from a Dick Harpootlian of the legal community.
Which, lol. But now here is Russell putting his name next to J.P.Miller's all over the internet and none of it is good.So what's in it for Russell?To us it seems obvious what J.P.Miller is doing, trying to scare people from speaking out against him.
They tried this before with the blanketed cease and desist claims and the weird demand letter to Charlotte and none of it worked. Sources continued to speak out about JP, and media continued to publish their claims.
So it looks like they decided to take it up a notch, and they filed a lawsuit, perhaps against someone that they believed wouldn't fight back.
And someone, maybe who they perceived as the easiest target to get their point across, in an attempt to create a chilling effect. but notice how they didn't sue any of the people who actually published these supposedly libelous statements.
Why not sue Robbie Harvey, who by the way, has over a million Facebook and TikTok followers?And I'm not encouraging this by the way, but why not start with him?
Without Robbie, Melissa likely wouldn't have the ability to communicate her slanderous statements about JP in a message that would reach quote unquote thousands.
It's odd to me to see a defamation lawsuit that doesn't go after the people who actually published the claim.
I want to note that Robby addressed the lawsuit in a YouTube on September 18th, and he said that Melissa stood by her statements and claimed the law office had proof that JP called that office.
Robby also said on YouTube that if he finds that any witnesses lied to him, he is going to be furious and he will publicly call them out for those lies.
Reporter Beth Braden called the office where Melissa allegedly worked as a paralegal multiple times on Wednesday to see if she was still employed there.No one ever answered or called back with a reply.
So maybe he did do this to scare people into silence. Or maybe this is JP's attempt to feel in control of the narrative as multiple news outlets covered this lawsuit.Ultimately, it doesn't matter why.
It matters what the system chooses to do with a lawsuit like this one and what message they choose to send to the people who are abusing the system.And we'll be right back.
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Okay, so interestingly, as we were working on this episode, we received a number of FOIAs back from the Horry County Police Department and we have to talk about one of them right now because it is egregious and why does this always happen on a Wednesday?
Before we go into it. We need to mention that this report was made on June 3rd of this past year, which is after Micah's death was all over the news.And we want to remind everyone that police reports are just that.
They are simply reports of allegations.It's public information, which makes it fair game for us to talk about as fact. in terms of this thing exists.And our taxpayer funded public servants were employed in service of it.
But reports of allegations do not automatically mean there is any credibility to the claim.You are so going to understand why I'm saying all this in one second. We just want to stress that allegations are allegations.They are not a sign of guilt.
That said, on June 3rd, Horry County Police Department received a call from someone.The reporter identifies this person by their name and relationship to the case and notes that this person is asking to remain anonymous.
So even though they've redacted the person's name, they probably should have redacted those other details.We're going to honor the anonymity here. The police were called just before 11 p.m.and alerted to a report of potential animal cruelty at J.P.
Miller's house.The CAD report says the caller described a very small black and white palm tree dog as appearing skinny and overly aggressive, according to the report.And it noted that, quote, things did not look right physically.
It's this next line where things get really weird.So I'm going to quote it.Collar states, and we're redacting this person's role, but they refer to Micah's death and an open investigation into her death.
And soon-to-be ex is looking to involve their dog. sexually.Dog groomer states there has been evidence of this and was told they were also making a report tonight.
Then it notes that Micah told this person about this in March before she died and I should note that we do not have a report from any dog groomer.We don't know if one exists yet.The report we do have notes that there were two dogs on the property.
So okay, let's all take a deep breath here because yuck and wow. So this seems to be an accusation of bestiality against J.P.Miller.Again, anyone can make an accusation about anything, although filing a false police report is a crime.
We have seen no other reports of any behavior like this on J.P.'s part.It's not a standing accusation against him, nor does he ever face any charges.
If we take the report in good faith, it's someone reporting a concern they had based on something the dog groomer allegedly said she saw and something Micah allegedly told this person.
If this is something Micah believed to be true before her death, then it really speaks to the pernicious and, I'll just say it, evil things that she was dealing with in those last few months of her life.
If she believed this to be true, then she was operating under fear that her dog was getting hurt.Obviously, we need to note that someone taking a dog to a dog groomer would be an indication of properly caring for the dog.
We also need to say that if this report was made in bad faith, it would be very understandable why J.P.Miller felt like he was being wrongfully attacked by the public.
And we will note that this accusation was not specifically included in Micah's list, the list of alleged coercive control and abusive behaviors that Micah's legal team has accused JP of inflicting on Micah, behaviors that they say contributed to her death.
However, the list did outline JP's alleged cruelty to Micah's dog.Here's David with what it says.
J.P.threw Micah's belongings out of the house and then demanded that she, quote, come get her dog, end quote.She could not keep the dog at the apartment she was staying in at the time, and he knew that.
When she did not immediately get the dog, he took the dog to her apartment. and tied the little dog to the front door handle.He knew that she was not home, and he left the dog there.
She had to leave where she was at the time to go home to get the dog.She found a home for the dog, but when J.P.found out about her giving the dog to someone else, he went there and demanded the person give the dog back.
So what came of this phone call to the police?And most importantly, what about the dogs?Police noted that they drove by JB's house that night and that the area was quiet and his front door and garage were closed, but that's it.
There's no other information.
We reached out to the Horry County Police Department to ask whether this allegation was investigated after June 3rd, because in addition to the CADD report containing very few details, we have sent so many FOIA requests to Horry County, and here we are, we still continue to not get the complete picture.
They seem to be sending us only the records they consider responsive at the time without noting that other records exist and are just not being given to us, which is a violation of South Carolina FOIA law.
But truly, it has been unbelievable all around.The department has a director of communications who describes herself as a master PIO.That's public information officer.And she describes herself as an expert in crisis communications.
We went all day Wednesday, passed our deadline, and still we heard nothing from Horry County.It wasn't until 7pm that we got a response from Michaela Moscoff, the communications director for Horry County Police Department.Now, Why was that?
Well, because Mandy, Beth Braden, and I tweeted about it Wednesday night.Within an hour after we tweeted about how the department has given us nothing but radio silence over the past few months, we got an email.
It took us embarrassing them publicly for them to do something.After months of us asking them to do their jobs according to the law, it took us turning to social media. Which turns out we weren't the first.
We found a tweet from June in which another person had called out Horry County PD and Michaela for being evasive and unhelpful.It shouldn't be this hard.
The very first page of the South Carolina Public Official's Guide to Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act Handbook has a letter from Governor Henry McMaster.
He writes, As public servants we should always endeavor to maintain the public's trust and confidence in their government.In that spirit, I hope you will remember, and remember he's talking to public officials here, when in doubt, disclose.
A few pages after that is a letter from State Attorney General Alan Wilson, who writes,
The email we got from Horry County Police Department was bare bones, and it again skirted the major issue, which is that this department doesn't tell you when it's excluding things from your FOIA.
Again, the law says they have to tell you that they're not giving you something and cite why they believe it isn't responsive to FOIA.
This police report from June 3rd should have been given to us months ago, or after any of the multiple times we've asked for reports with J.P.Miller's name in them. Now, had this been an open investigation, not giving it to us would have made sense.
But, according to Michaela's post-Twitter email to us, there was never an investigation into this. Officers drove by J.P.
Miller's house sometime before midnight, noted that the house was quiet and the doors and garage were shut, and then they went on their merry way.
They apparently looked at the empty driveway and determined, well, no dog here, must be no dog sex then, and concluded their inquiry.
The lack of investigation of even a simple phone call to the dog groomer means this claim just hangs out there in public records with no conclusion.
And when you think about it, when you think about how difficult it was to get basic answers to basic questions, it now becomes all the more clear why Horry County treats public information this way.Because they know it exposes their sloppiness.
Also, if there's one thing we learned Wednesday, it's that they cannot handle criticism.In response to us calling her and her department out, Mikhaila Moskov, the PIO for the police department, made her Twitter account private.
The next thing we need to talk about in the Micah Francis case is Dr. Shadi Duchesne.We are going to talk about Micah's alleged suicide attempt in March 2018 next week.Breaking news keeps getting in the way.
Anyway, we have fielded a lot of questions from listeners, including many licensed therapists and psychologists, about this doctor and whether she had any personal connection to JP.
Basically, they want to know what is up with her, because her reports tend to strongly rely on JP's narrative, even when she's also noting behaviors that would lead the average person to question his credibility.
We totally get why his narrative matters, by the way.We understand why Dr. Duchesne would include his take on things to a certain degree.It makes sense that one spouse's narrative would be relevant when the other spouse is in crisis.
But there is a difference between accounting for the existence of that spouse's narrative and seeming to side with it in a way that could be considered less than professional.
And there are times in Dr. Duchesne's reports that seem judgy and sometimes even scolding.Throughout the reports, she sometimes refers to Micah as they, indicating that she might have subconsciously viewed JP and Micah as a single unit.
In one report, she outright says that Micah became argumentative about therapy and blood tests and said, quote, this is because she doesn't like hearing anything contrary to what she wants to do, which feels awfully close to an emotional reaction to Micah's concerns.
So what's up with Dr. Duchesne, right?We mentioned in previous episodes that despite JP's apparent hefty budget for big boy toys, he didn't have health insurance for him and Micah, according to the records.
That meant that Micah was cared for by state-funded facilities.And it meant, as Dr. Duchesne repeatedly noted, that sometimes they couldn't and wouldn't follow through with her care as prescribed.
such as when Micah wasn't able to get a shot that would have helped her deal with the side effect from one of her drugs, and such as when Micah came into the office expressing suicidal ideation and Dr. Duchesne only recommended she be hospitalized.
Dr. Duchesne, as it turns out, has a bit of a checkered past when it comes to her ability to practice medicine.This is something that was first reported by YouTuber Robbie Harvey.
According to news reports from the time, Dr. Duquesne, who is also listed as an addiction specialist, Had her license to practice medicine in Pennsylvania suspended?
In October of 2009, a notice in the Daily Item in Sunbury, Pennsylvania said her license was suspended for not less than three years.On January 3rd, 2010, the Press Enterprise in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
wrote that Dr. Duquesne had been convicted of not keeping records of prescribing oxycodone between 2007 and 2008, which it is very unclear why a psychiatrist, who is an addiction specialist, would be prescribing oxycodone, one of the most abused medications there is out there, and not keeping records of doing so.
Other than, oh shady. The paper wrote, those particular prescriptions aroused suspicions because they were all written for Niveo Crespo, but filled at several different pharmacies, sometimes within days or hours of each other.
The paper noted that Dr. Duquesne was a psychiatrist at a Pennsylvania State Hospital, and that she was also once the medical director for an addiction treatment center.
In addition to losing her medical license for at least three years, according to the paper, she was put on probation for five years through the criminal court system.Now, let's talk about Dr. Degane in South Carolina.
According to a Freedom of Information Act response we got, there have been two complaints filed with the South Carolina Department of Mental Health related to Dr. Duquesne.Both were made in 2020.
The first complaint was made in January 2020 and appears to have been unfounded based on the notes.A patient had accused Dr. Duquesne of not filling her prescriptions properly and not seeing her in a timely manner
When they went to investigate the claim, they found that the complainant's number wasn't working and there was no record of her being a patient of Dr. DeKane's.The second complaint was made in May 2020.
In it, a patient accused her therapist of interfering with her disability claim by telling Social Security Administration officials that the patient was coming to the mental health center just to get disability. It's a little confusing though.
The Department of Mental Health redacted the name of the counselor, but then refers to Dr. DeKeen by name later in the report and uses her name in the January report.So it's possible that this complaint was originally about another clinician.
It's also possible that this was just sloppy redaction.
The complainant accused the clinician of telling the board that she was not mentally ill, and the clinician denied this to investigators, saying she did not speak to the Social Security Administration.
The investigator who looked into the case reviewed the records that were sent to the disability board and noted that though the board
had requested her medical records, only the psychiatric medical assessment notes for four of her appointments had been sent.In one of those assessments, Dr. Duquesne had written in the patient's notes, quote,
The investigator told the patient, who had no income and was living with her daughter, that ultimately the decision was up to the Social Security Administration and that she should meet with her counselor to discuss resources.
The patient asked to switch therapists.Again, we're not sure if she meant Dr. Duquesne or another clinician.Either way, no wrongdoing was found on Dr. Duquesne's part, at least not noted in this report.
It does, however, bring into question what we talked about a little bit ago, right?Dr. Duquesne's note seems more glib, more casual than it should.
Rather than just state that the patient is refusing to take meds and maybe noting that she explored the reasons why the patient didn't want to take her meds, She projects a potential motivation.Potential.As in, she's kind of guessing here.
When, let's face it, a lot of people don't want to be prescribed psychiatric drugs, especially if they have no money.That said, the temporary loss of Dr. Decane's medical license is a big grain of salt.
According to news reports, she was 49 years old at the time she lost her license, which means she was a full-fledged professional adult and knew better.It means that she engaged in behaviors that were unethical and illegal.
It's something we need to consider.Like I said, it's a big grain of salt.
As we continue to share Micah's medical reports with you, we don't have any reason at this point to suspect that Dr. Duquesne did anything wrong in Micah's case, but we certainly have reasons to ask questions about the tone and tenor of her reports.
and the authority she gave to JP and his accounts despite him admitting to her that he had shared prescriptions with Micah right at a time when Micah was experiencing serious suicidal ideation.
Before we go today, we want to quickly talk about the conspiracy case brought by the family of Mallory Beach against gas station owner Greg Parker.
And we want to talk about some of the disturbing things that are going on with that case as Mallory's family continues to fight for a better system for all of us.
Parker, as you know, is the owner of Parker's Kitchen gas stations and convenience stores, where Paul Murdoch purchased alcohol underage, using Buster's license, on the night that he drove Ellick's boat into a bridge five years ago, killing Mallory Beach.
Parker, along with Ellick and Buster, was a defendant in the wrongful death case filed by Mallory's family in 2019.That case led to two major events.
One, it threatened to disrupt and reveal Ellick's then still unknown and extensive crimes against his clients and law firm, leading him to feel the kind of heat that made him murderous.
And two, it opened some sort of portal to hell in Greg Parker's soul and caused him to, at least by all outside appearances, treat this case like a sport or a challenge, like some sort of personal squid game.
And though he settled the case for a reported $15 million last year, he still didn't go down without a perverse and frankly sloppy fight.
And it's that perverse and sloppy fight that led to a second lawsuit getting filed by the Beach family in late 2021, accusing Greg Parker of being behind the leak of confidential court materials, which included photos
of Mallory's body when she was found in a creek bed five miles from the boat crash a week later.Greg Parker is accused of using those materials as a tool to shake the resolve of the Beach family in pursuing their wrongful death claim.
He denies this and denies authorizing any leak of materials.
Nevertheless, those photos ended up in a sizzle reel for a documentary that was produced, in part, by a known associate of Greg Parker, the same guy who also published a very long and very strange blog about the Murdock family and about crash victims shortly after the murders, and that blog included details that had not ever been made public before.
These were details that seemed to be used to steer the blame away from Parker and more toward the Murdoch's and the boat crash passengers, including Mallory herself.
So the second case is the civil conspiracy case, and it has been a scorched earth situation so far.
which makes sense because it threatens to fully expose the lengths Greg Parker's team might have gone to in trying to prevent what seemed like the inevitable in the wrongful death case and ended up being the inevitable, actually, meaning the large settlement.
The big question now, though, is what lengths are Greg Parker and his team willing to go to now to stop people from knowing whatever lengths he may or may not have gone to back then.
So far, their tactics have included an ongoing attempt to get Mark Tinsley, the Beach family's attorney, removed from the case, lying in court filings, and trying to trick the court into thinking that the issue at hand is talking to the media because
They want to equate the allegations against Parker to run-of-the-mill conversations Mark may or may not have had with the media.
Oh, and they also filed to have the judge removed from their case, a judge who was ruling more in the Beach's favor than in theirs.
He ended up withdrawing from the case earlier this year amid his own scandal and a successful secretive campaign to have him removed from the bench altogether. Which seems awfully suspicious, right?
But the same judge's name has also been associated with a major FBI sting that has Charleston lawyers of all shapes and sizes very worried right now.We'll keep you posted on that one.
There has also been some clownery in this case, like the time it was discovered that one of Parker's attorneys was DMing the judge's clerk over Instagram about the case after hours, which is more than not cool.
And then there's the time when the new judge in the case, who is Judge Doc Morgan, hired a law clerk who is also an intern from Debbie Barbier's Very Small. law office.
Debbie, who you might remember as Corey Fleming's attorney, is also one of Parker's attorneys, but her law clerk getting hired by the judge in this case seems like an awfully big coincidence, right?
And that law clerk who worked in Debbie's office at the same time she was repping Parker, in this case and in the boat crash case to a certain extent, appears to have sent correspondence to Parker's team and the beach team on behalf of the judge.
which would be a violation of the code of conduct for staff attorneys and law clerks, according to a memo filed last week by the Beach family, asking Judge Morgan to recuse himself from the case.And y'all, this is a mess.
Already, Judge Morgan is responsible for a seemingly unprecedented ruling in Parker's favor.Going back to the part where I said Parker's team wanted to equate run-of-the-mill correspondence with the media to the accusations that stand against Parker,
Judge Morgan ordered the Beach attorneys to turn over any emails and text messages they have with reporters.Why?Well, who knows?To validate a false equivalency?To allow the defense to stall for time?
Or maybe Judge Morgan did it to prevent Parker's attorneys from whining about fairness down the road.Whatever the reason, it was a weird decision because the Beach attorneys aren't accused of wrongdoing.
From where we sit, it looks like the judge gave in to strategic bullying. Taken on its own though, it's like, fine.Judges make weird rulings sometimes, we can't read into everything, but then this happened.
On August 14th, Judge Morgan disclosed to the Beach attorneys that this law clerk from Debbie's office was now working for him, which was a surprise to them according to the filing.
At that juncture, the judge asked the Beach family if they were comfortable with him continuing this case. According to the filing, the Beach family said they were not.Why is that?
Because like we said, the clerk appears to have already involved himself in the case.
Two hours before the judge informed them of the law clerk's connection to one of Parker's attorneys, that clerk appears to have sent an email to all parties, according to the filing.
At a hearing on August 20th, the judge refused to step down, though.Strange, right?When he alerted the beaches to this potential conflict, they were like, thank you, yeah, please step down.
But instead of doing that, Judge Morgan doubled down in the opposite direction. He said that the email was sent by his old clerk, not this new clerk, which, OK, but why would the old clerk sign the email with the new clerk's name and number?
Also, according to sources, this is a normal changing of the guard.It's when a new clerk takes over, they indicate this with that new signature.Better question, why was the judge trying to minimize the situation?
If the new clerk sent that email, then it's a clear violation of the code of conduct. That's what the Beeches argue.But now there's a second issue, and that's that the judge is refusing to step down.
Because the question then becomes, is he trying to stay on the case for a reason?And if so, what is that reason?His apparent refusal to step down now raises another point, which is the appearance of impropriety.And it gets even more weird.
according to the filing when Judge Morgan was running for election in 2021.He told the state legislature in his questionnaire how he would handle a motion for recusal.
Here's David with what Doc Morgan said back then when he was just an attorney from Greenville.
I believe you have to give deference to the party requesting recusal.My opinion on this issue is that the analysis is an objective one, not a subjective one.
In other words, would a reasonable person, after hearing the circumstances, perceive that situation as unfair? thereby necessitating recusal, not whether you personally feel you could be impartial and fair.
However, the request must have a reasonable basis and cannot, nor should not, be a ploy to simply remove me by making up unreasonable and unfounded issues.
So what changed?It seems pretty straightforward from where we sit that given the history of this case, that the judge should have recused himself.
In their brief, the Beaches say that they did not wanna file this memo because by filing it, they were now putting on the record yet another apparent problem with a South Carolina judge.Yet another problem.
After everything we have seen since the boat crash in 2019, five years of questions and examples of judicial misconduct, of certain South Carolina judges favoring the wealthy and the connected, we are still having this conversation?
Why does Judge Morgan seem to want to be on this case so badly?Or is this just a regular old case of the robe-itis?
Does he put on the robe and his earlier beliefs on recusal and the appearance of impropriety become so unimpressed by his new status that they were like, bye?
From the start, this case has been about the lengths a wealthy defendant might have gone in order to minimize his own accountability.
And in the almost three years since this case has been filed, it has never been about the actual accusations, the actual merits of the case.
Instead, the parties have been locked up and Parker's repeated, and in our opinion, misleaded and puffy attempts to stop the train before it can even leave the station.
Instead of helping get this case to a point where the train can start running, we now have a judge joining the defense by lying down on the rails.At the moment, we've yet to figure out why.We only know how it looks.
Stay tuned, stay pesky, stay in the sunlight, and see y'all at Cocos this Saturday. True Sunlight is a LunaShark production created by me, Manny Matney, and co-hosted by journalist Liz Farrell.
Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com.Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky.
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