A Cuyahoga County judge formally dismissed Rep. Max Miller's domestic violence case against his ex-wife after concluding the Ohio congressman was never harmed or threatened, a ruling that undercuts months of public claims by Miller's camp.
Judge Debra Boros of Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court granted the dismissal last week, writing that Miller "was not under any apparent infirmity and did not appear to have been threatened by or in fear of" his ex-wife, Emily Moreno. Miller, a 37-year-old Republican who represents northeast Ohio, had filed the petition on Feb. 27, demanding Moreno stay away from him and their two-year-old daughter.
The dismissal did not come at the court's initiative. Miller himself moved to drop the case back in May, but the judge waited weeks before acting, and when she did, she put the reason on the record. Miller was not a victim. He had not been harmed. He had not been placed in fear. Those are the judge's own findings, the New York Post reported.
The timeline matters. Miller filed his domestic violence petition in late February, painting himself as the party who needed the court's protection. He sought an order keeping Moreno away from both him and the couple's toddler. A judge initially granted Miller a civil protection order against Moreno, though the same judge declined to extend that order to cover their daughter.
Miller publicly treated the initial order as vindication.
But by May, he reversed course and asked to withdraw the petition entirely. His stated reason, relayed through his campaign, was the "well-being and best interests" of the child. The court did not rubber-stamp the request. Judge Boros waited until last Wednesday to rule, and her written findings made clear this was not a case where a legitimate victim simply chose to walk away. The judge found no evidence of harm or fear on Miller's part.
That distinction matters for a congressman who has spent months framing himself as the wronged party in a messy divorce from the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, a fellow Ohio Republican.
While Miller pursued his petition against Moreno, she leveled her own accusations against him. Moreno accused Miller of shoving her during a Feb. 1 custody exchange. She accused him of dumping scalding water on her after an argument. A police report referenced in court filings included the claim that Miller "previously held a gun to her head." Miller has denied all wrongdoing.
The couple's two-year-old daughter sustained a broken collarbone and a bruised shoulder in February. Moreno took the child for X-rays. Doctors found what a police report described as "what appeared to be a handprint bruise" on the child's shoulder. No official determination of cause was reported in the court record.
A separate custody judge partly granted Moreno's motion for a temporary restraining order against Miller last month. That order restricts both parents from "disparaging the other in front of the minor child and using social media/electronic devices or third parties to threaten, harass, or annoy the other."
Miller's credibility took another hit during the proceedings. He claimed in a court hearing that he possessed doorbell camera footage relevant to the case. His own legal team later informed opposing counsel that the footage did not exist. Miller said he made an honest mistake, explaining that his girlfriend had been at the home throughout the day of the Feb. 1 exchange and he was confused about timing.
The day after Judge Boros dismissed Miller's petition, Emily Moreno's attorney Andrew Zashin, a veteran family law practitioner, filed a motion for a restraining order against Miller himself. Zashin's legal team alleged in the filing that Miller "physically grabbed Attorney Zashin in an effort to get his attention while Plaintiff simultaneously made reference to Attorney Zashin's fiancée" after a Tuesday hearing.
The filing went further. Zashin's team alleged that Miller's conduct was not limited to a single incident, claiming his "attacks and harassment of Defendant's Counsel are not limited to her representation by Zashin Law but also extend to her previous counsel, Attorney Vince Stafford and Attorney Jill Helfman, whom Plaintiff communicated, or rather harassed, directly via email." Earlier this year, Zashin had separately alleged that Miller attempted to goad him into a fight after a prior hearing.
Miller had also tried to have Zashin removed from the case entirely. The court agreed on Wednesday to let Miller withdraw that motion as well, another retreat.
This is not the first time Miller has launched a legal offensive over abuse allegations only to abandon it. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who previously had a relationship with Miller, accused him of abuse. Miller sued Grisham for defamation. He later dropped that case voluntarily.
Now a defamation lawsuit against Moreno follows the same arc, at least in the eyes of her legal team. AP News reported that Miller filed a defamation suit in Cleveland against Moreno, Zashin, and his law firm, seeking compensatory damages exceeding $25,000 plus punitive damages. Miller's spokesman said the congressman was "seeking to hold those responsible accountable" for "significant personal, professional, and political harm."
Moreno's spokesperson, Stefan Mychajliw, offered a blunter read: "Mr. Miller is upset because he's tried to silence Emily Moreno the same way he silenced Stephanie Grisham, and Emily won't let him."
Moreno's attorneys have now moved to dismiss the defamation suit as well. The Washington Examiner reported that her legal team argues the complaint is barred by Ohio's one-year statute of limitations and is protected under the state's Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, a law designed to shield citizens from lawsuits aimed at silencing free speech on matters of public concern. Her attorneys called the defamation suit "the latest chapter in Congressman Miller's well-established pattern of wielding his power and his fortune as weapons to crush his critics, intimidate his accusers, and silence the victims of his own misconduct."
Miller's campaign spokesperson, Abigail Angelos, pushed back on the broader narrative in a statement to the New York Post.
"The facts speak for themselves: The court has continued to permit him joint custody of his child."
Angelos added that Miller "will continue to vigorously defend his reputation against false and reckless allegations designed to inflame public opinion rather than reflect reality." She said simply: "This narrative has gone on long enough."
Joint custody, though, is not the same as exoneration. The court's willingness to keep a father in his child's life says nothing about whether the domestic violence petition he filed had merit. On that question, Judge Boros answered plainly: it did not.
A congressman who files for a protection order, claims vindication when he gets one, then quietly tries to make the whole case disappear does not get to lecture anyone about narratives. The judge's findings are the narrative now, and they say Miller was never the victim he claimed to be.
