OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Former Oktibbeha supervisor Bricklee Miller has filed a countersuit against former Starkville police officer John Michael Lay and is seeking Lay’s disciplinary records with the department.
The counterclaim, filed Dec. 14 in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court, is in response to Lay’s defamation lawsuit against Miller filed in September.
Lay has alleged Miller helped force him out of his job with Starkville Police Department, prevented him from getting a job at Mississippi State University and filed a formal complaint against him with the Pearl Police Department, Lay’s current employer.
Lay is seeking $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint against Miller, who is no longer serving on the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors, is one side of a legal argument.
In her counterclaim, Miller alleges two counts against Lay: civil conspiracy and abuse of process.
The civil conspiracy charge comes from Miller’s accusation that Lay assisted Miller’s ex-husband, Donnie Miller, in transferring $50,000 from the marital estate while Donnie was being held at the Oktibbeha County Jail on Sept. 14, 2022, for an alleged incident of domestic abuse.
Bricklee alleges Lay “engaged in a civil conspiracy to take assets,” resulting in $50,000 being “secreted” from her.
The second count in the counterclaim, abuse of process, comes from Miller’s allegation that Lay filed his original suit in order to “silence” her.
Lay, a friend of the Millers, said in his original complaint he was asked to pick up a check of $50,000 from Donnie’s father, at the request of Donnie, and deliver it to the jail for Donnie to provide his signature. Lay argues he believed the check was for Donnie’s business.
The next day, SPD Chief Mark Ballard met with Lay and told Lay he would be suspended for “being too loud” during an arrest and that Bricklee had filed a complaint against Lay related to the check. Lay later resigned and alleged his job offer from MSU was retracted at least partly because Bricklee informed the university of her accusation of fraud against him.
Bricklee also filed a complaint with the Pearl Police Department accusing Lay of defrauding her and alleging he was stalking her, but that grievance was dismissed, according to Lay’s original complaint.
Lay has filed a motion asking for the counterclaim to be dismissed or for the court to grant summary judgment. He argues that Bricklee’s claim of conspiracy would mean she would also have to sue Donnie, and that action would exceed the circuit court’s authority as it would be considered a marital dispute and be relegated to chancery court.
He also said the abuse of process count has no merit and argues a lawsuit can never rise to abuse of process.
Disciplinary records
Bricklee Miller has filed a subpoena request for several records on Lay’s time with SPD, including disciplinary records, internal affairs records and complaints of wrongdoing made against Lay. That subpoena was delivered to SPD dispatchers on Dec. 19.
Lay has filed an objection to the request, asking for the subpoena to be quashed or limited in scope. He argues the request is overly broad and that any information prior to January 2022 is irrelevant as the conflict between the two took place in 2022. He asks the court to limit the records request to 2022 if it is to move forward, as well as keeping those records confidential under a protective order.
Miller, in a response to Lay’s objection, argues that all the statements she made to Ballard were true, and that even if Lay was fired and hadn’t resigned, “it was because of his past disciplinary history, and not because of any statements by Miller.”
“In order to prove Lay resigned, or that he would have been fired for other reasons, Miller issued and served a subpoena to the Police Department requesting documents,” Miller’s response said.
Rulings on a dismissal of Miller’s counterclaim or Lay’s request to quash the subpoena had not been filed in the case’s docket as of Monday.
Kevin Edwards is news editor and reports on Starkville and Oktibbeha County government.
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