#586 Jason Flom with Ronnie Miller

**Jason Flom** (0:02)
On February 11, 2010, a baby girl was born to unwed parents, Lori Johnson and Ronnie Miller, in Rockford, Illinois. But her parents' relationship gradually became contentious, which only worsened during the custody battle. During a heated exchange on July 12, 2015, Ronnie threatened to sue for full custody. A few days later, he was accused of sexually assaulting their daughter.
In a video statement made with Child Protective Services, the daughter appeared to have been coached into making the accusation on the record, an accusation that she repeatedly recanted and never again affirmed. Yet, the state was able to find a nurse who claimed that the daughter's medical history was suspicious for sexual abuse, and that was enough for a jury to send Ronnie away for 20 long years. This is Wrongful Conviction.
Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction, where we have a case where it appears that accusations were used to weaponize our courts and child protective services to settle a custody battle, and ultimately victimize the child whom they purported to protect, as it seems that she was used against her own will to incarcerate her father, Ronnie Miller, who's now calling in from an Illinois correctional facility. Ronnie, I'm sorry you're here, but I'm really happy to be able to share your story, and I appreciate you being here. Welcome.

**Ronnie Miller** (1:41)
Thank you very much.

**Jason Flom** (1:43)
And joining him is post-conviction attorney Leonard Goodman.

**Leonard Goodman** (1:46)
Yes, thank you.

**Jason Flom** (1:48)
And later we'll hear from Ronnie's sister Deborah. But first, let's hear about what Ronnie's life was like before all of this.

**Ronnie Miller** (1:56)
I grew up in Rockford, Illinois. Not a good place growing up, but I became a teenager and moved out. I dropped out of school. I ended up getting my DHD and then kind of just fell into factory work. Up until this, I was actually at a pretty decent pharmaceutical packaging company. I worked in the warehouse. I'd been there four years. All the other factories that I worked in Rockford were pretty much shitholes, horrid conditions and little bit of money.
This company that I actually made it into, the work was clean. You're in a pharmaceutical company. The people were friendly, nice. You had room for success. It was a pretty good place to work at. On my way to becoming management, this was from 2011 till 2015

**Jason Flom** (2:42)
During which time Ronnie was trying to co-parent his daughter with a woman named Lori Johnson.

**Ronnie Miller** (2:46)
I had known Lori off and on.
We had our daughter in 2010 But in the beginning of the relationship, it wasn't nothing serious. It was just having fun until she wanted me to move into her place, which I did. We had been doing good for, I'd say, about a whole year before she found out she was pregnant. And at that time, she already had a child before. So I would say she was questionable about having another. For me, this would have been my first child, which, yeah, I was stoked that I was going to be a dad. I made every doctor's appointment that was scheduled. I remember at one time, I found out that my daughter, she could hear me. So I started reading books and talking and playing music and everything, but a lot of reading. So, you know, during the birth, she came out screaming.
The nurse had got her in her hands and everything. And I remember saying to her, it's okay, baby girl, here's daddy. And she immediately knew my voice. Even the nurse commented was like, oh, she knows you, you know, something I'll never forget.

**Jason Flom** (3:53)
So while fatherhood seemed to suit Ronnie, he and Lori weren't a natural fit.

**Ronnie Miller** (3:58)
We made it like the first year when I found out she was cheating on me with another man. And we pretty much broke things off. I was out of the house, but it was a very toxic relationship to where I would move out and she would convince me to come back and all this, oh, let's do it for the baby. I had fall for it every time. And I wanted my daughter to see us together. My parents were divorced and I didn't want that for her. So, yeah, of course, I kept coming back, even though the way she treated me was like shit. But when I wasn't with her, she would hold the child from me. No, you can't see her. No, you can't talk to her. This type of stuff where she would use the kid as leverage.

**Leonard Goodman** (4:40)
My understanding is that if he was not allowed to see her, he would get a court order so that the mom's obstruction of his visitation would be put to a stop by the judge.