Horry County lawmaker files coercive control bill amid calls following Mica Miller’s death

Mica Miller Benefit Concert 9.jpg
(Photo: WPDE)

(WPDE) — Horry County Senator Stephen Goldfinch introduced a bill this week aimed at criminalizing coercive control in South Carolina.

Filed on Tuesday, the bill would add Section 16-25-140 to the South Carolina Code of Laws to create the offense of coercive control over another person. It outlines examples of behaviors and types of evidence that may be used to support the offense, defines related terms, and sets penalties for violations.

The legislation lists specific behaviors that could qualify as coercive control, including:

• Isolating someone from their support network
• Withholding access to basic needs
• Stalking/tracking whereabouts
• Monitoring communications
• Using spyware or digital surveillance
• Controlling what they wear, where they go, or who they see
• Blocking access to medical or other support services
• Constant insults or emotional degradation
• Enforcing humiliating or degrading rules
• Forcing participation in criminal acts
• Financial abuse, such as limiting money access
• Threats of harm to the person, a child, or others
• Physical assault
• Rape
• Preventing transportation

The bill was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If passed, it would carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

At a news conference last June, Mica Miller’s attorney, Regina Ward, called on lawmakers to pass a coercive control bill in her honor.

Mica died by suicide on April 27, 2024, in Robeson County, North Carolina. She was in the midst of divorce proceedings with her estranged husband, John-Paul Miller.

Ward said Mica’s journals chronicled examples of “abusive coercive control.”

Ward claimed the coercive control bill has been sitting in the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee since 2020. McLain Toole originally introduced the bill as House Bill 5271, which was then referred to the Judiciary Committee. It was reintroduced in January 2021 by Rep. Robert J. May III as House Bill 3621. Later that year, in December 2021, Sen. Katrina Frye Shealy presented the same bill in the Senate, where it again stalled in committee.

Ward said the bill refers to a pattern of behavior used to “dominate, manipulate, and intimidate” someone in an intimate or familiar relationship. She said such acts include threats, humiliation, emotional abuse, and isolation.

Sen. Goldfinch’s bill includes additional behaviors to be considered as coercive control. Some of those suggestions align with what’s being referred to as “Mica’s List”—a set of actions that attorney Regina Ward says should also be considered forms of abuse under the new law.

Those additions include:

• Emotional abuse
• Ignoring repeated requests to stop or leave
• Cruelty to animals
• Destruction of property or supporting evidence
• Misuse of legal documents or law enforcement
• Misuse of the legal process
• Adultery used as a form of manipulation or control
• Identity theft
• Cyber technology abuse
• Medical, spiritual, or church-based abuse (including abuse of authority)
• Excessive phone calls to family, friends, or associates
• Physical abuse that does not leave visible marks

Mica’s estranged husband, John-Paul Miller, was never charged or arrested in connection to her death.

We’ve reached out to attorney Regina Ward and Sen. Goldfinch for comment on the newly filed legislation. We’ll update this article if we hear back.