Posted on 04/16/2004 1:58:36 PM PDT by WKB
Two fundamentalist churches torn apart by the actions of a woman minister who coveted her neighbor's wife are trying to heal their congregations while the Rev. Dr. Judy Brown awaits prison.
Brown, 51, was sentenced March 26 to 30 years in prison with eight to serve for breaking into the home of the Rev. Ted Smart and trying to kill him with a crowbar.
Judge James Swanson sentenced Brown in Salem Circuit Court.
After Deputy April Staton led Brown to her temporary cell in the Salem-Roanoke County Jail where she will be until a bed is found for her in the state system, Ted Smart talked about the sentence and how Brown's betrayal with his wife affected him, his family and his congregation at Word of Life Center.
A sister church where Brown was pastor, Salem Covenant Worship Center, lost half of its membership of about 50 over Brown's actions, according to members who testified on her behalf.
"There has been a lot of fear, loss of trust, it has challenged my faith, my church, my community," Smart said.
He said he still believes he was the major obstacle to Brown "gaining control over my wife and my kids."
"I think the sentence is fair," said Smart, with his wife Toby standing next to him and his grown children waiting behind them.
"Our hope is that Ms. Brown gets some help."
When a reporter suggested Brown was obsessed with Toby because she was in love with someone other than God for the first time in her life, he replied, "There's a difference in loving and coveting."
When Smart was on the witness stand, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Aaron Lavinder pointed out Smart's wife and Brown were carrying on an adulterous relationship "right under your nose," and asked if he blamed some on his wife.
He replied, "Possibly."
Smart, who said he and his wife are remaining together, explained that in Four Square churches such as his and Brown's Assemblies of God she could not be forgiven "unless she acknowledges what she has done. I struggle with the idea she didn't know what she was doing."
When asked if he could forgive her, Smart hesitated a moment, then said, "Yes."
Brown consistently contended she had no recollection of attacking Smart before she woke up the morning of Aug. 25 to find herself lying on the floor of the Smarts' kitchen, with Ted Smart holding a crow bar and calling the police.
Her four-hour sentencing hearing turned in to a short course on neurological disorders and psychological illnesses when her attorney, Chris Kowalczuk, called two medical experts to explain possible reasons why she didn't remember trying to kill the husband of her lover.
Salem neurologist Dr. Timothy Hormel explained Transient Global Amnesia could be caused by a temporary drop in blood flow to the brain, which could have resulted from Brown's heart problems.
"A person could be awake and able to functionŠThey do not lay down new memory" during that time, he said, and therefore, remember before and after an incident but not what happened during it.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Evan S. Nelson testified Brown could have Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and possibly Disassociative Disorder, which could cause her to file away hurtful memories.
"The analogy is a person who doesn't remember what she did when drunk," he explained.
He characterized her as naïve in matters of love.
"She may have been 51 but she brought the emotional maturity to her dating of someone who was in their teens,' he said.
"She is like a little schoolgirl. Her love letters (to Toby) read like the gaga love letters of a love-struck schoolgirl."
Dr. Nelson said it was his opinion Brown was not a threat to anyone and her obsession with Toby Smart would go away within a year or so after she is away from her.
Brown took the stand in her own defense, summarizing her first 49 years of doing what was right, then losing everything because of her actions after falling in love with Toby Brown.
"I lost my pastorate in Salem. I lost my ordination credentials. With a felon y record, I lost any chance of using my education and training in any meaningful employment. I lost hundreds if not thousands of students I have trained. I lost the ability to go into Wal-Mart without hanging my head in shame. I've disgraced myself, two families, two churches; I've disgraced the ministry."
She apologized from the witness stand to Smart.
"I've wronged him terribly. I wronged and wounded every member of his family. I don't think I could be any more sorry than I am."
She told the judge, "Any goodness you extended to me you'll never be sorry. I'll return to living the right life I was living before."
Brown's story as to why she was in the Smarts' house was she had become frightened during the night when she thought she saw a prowler outside her house. Instead of calling the police, as she had done several weeks earlier, she got her keys and let herself into her neighbors' house, went downstairs and fell asleep on a twin bed in the basement apartment.
Previous court testimony showed Brown waited in the basement until the Smarts' son left for college, then threw the circuit breaker. When Ted Smart went downstairs to check on the power, she hit him in the head with the crowbar three times before he was able to get it away from her and call police.
In the basement, police found a garbage bag and a smaller plastic bag containing rubber gloves. They also found a knife, a flashlight and McDonald's wrappers.
Although Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King originally tried the case - when Brown took an Alford Plea, saying she was not guilty but realized the Commonwealth had sufficient evidence to find her guilty - his assistant, Lavinder, argued the state's case at her sentencing.
King had a family emergency, said Lavinder.
He asked the judge to exceed sentencing guidelines and give her a total of 55 years, suspended after she served 20.
Her attorney asked the judge to be more lenient, but didn't suggest a number of years.
"Whatever it was, it was loveŠ" he said. "To judge her on this one event, the worst offense of her life, would be too narrow."
Ten of her former students and colleagues from Central Bible College in Missouri or churches where she was pastor traveled to Salem from as far as Michigan and Missouri testify as character witnesses for Brown.
The described her as a caring, sensitive and a role model for thousands of students over the years. In addition to more than 30 years as a Bible college teacher and pastor, she was also an editor for a modern version of the Bible.
Perhaps, it's good news that I can't. I suppose it means I'm not OC or dissociative. ;-)
Have the two of them ever been seen in the same room together? ;o)
Only half? Don't say much for that congregation, does it.
How fundamentalist can a church be if it has a lesbian pastor?
I wouldn't quibble with calling them charismatic or pentacostal, but they certainly aren't fundamentalists.
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