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[Austin, TX] Church leaders accused in beating -- Boy in intensive care with kidney failure
The Houston Chronicle ^ | July 9, 2002 | Armando Villafranca

Posted on 07/09/2002 7:10:44 AM PDT by Illbay

Church leaders accused in beating

Boy in intensive care with kidney failure

By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA

Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- An 11-year-old boy who read the wrong Bible verse at church was severely beaten with a tree branch by a Baptist pastor and the pastor's brother, the boy's family said.

Church

Photo supplied by family attorney Bobby R. Taylor

An 11-year-old boy suffered kidney failure after being beaten on the back and buttocks with a tree branch, a police affidavit says.


The boy suffered kidney failure as a result of the beating and spent the Fourth of July weekend in the intensive care unit of Brackenridge Hospital sedated with morphine, according to a police affidavit.

Austin police issued arrest warrants Monday for Joshua W. Thompson, 22, of Austin, and his twin brother, Caleb D. Thompson. They are wanted on charges of first-degree felony injury to a child.

Joshua Thompson is pastor of the Spanish-language congregation at the Capital City Baptist Church. Caleb Thompson is an assistant to the pastors. They are accused of using an inch-thick tree branch to discipline the boy.

"(The boy) was accused of not taking this very seriously," said Bobby Taylor, an attorney for the family.

According to Taylor and family members, the beating occurred Wednesday while the boy and other children practiced for a Bible competition.

"He was trying to find the verse and he was on the wrong verse, and they thought he was goofing around," the boy's mother said.

She said church assistants summoned Joshua Thompson, who took the boy to Caleb Thompson's house.

Taylor said the boy was placed facedown on a bed and beaten with the tree branch on his back and buttocks. When the boy tried to break free, Caleb Thompson held him down so the beating could continue, Taylor said.

Taylor said the beating lasted 90 minutes, during which the boy was allowed to use the bathroom one time. The boy told his family the Thompsons turned up a radio to drown out his screams.

The family said the Thompsons brought the boy home and suggested he wear long sleeves for a while. The family said one of the brothers told the boy's stepfather, "It's your turn now" and that they suggested he "finish the job."

According to the police affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrants, the stepfather told investigators the Thompsons said they tried to break the child and make him repent from wrongdoing.

"Their idea of discipline was to take him out of school and beat him until he was black and blue," said the boy's uncle, Felipe Garcia.

A photograph provided by Taylor showed deep purple bruises and scabs on the boy's back and buttocks. The police affidavit noted the boy also was bruised on his arms, legs and head.

Attempts to reach the Thompsons on Monday were unsuccessful. Jerald Finney, a lawyer for Joshua Thompson, told the Austin American-Statesman that "facts have been distorted."

"These are two very responsible young men," Finney said. "Anybody can make allegations. That's what the criminal justice system is for -- to sort out truth from fiction."

The boy's mother said she and her family had attended the independent Baptist church for four years and that the sermons never endorsed severe discipline.

"It was a surprise to me; it was shocking," she said. "I never heard nothing like this. I never heard the pastor preach like this. I have no idea why they beat him so badly."

The family intends to file a civil lawsuit against the church.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: austin; baptist; beating; boy; church
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To: Illbay
Aggravated assault, pure and simple. At least five years in prison sounds about right.
21 posted on 07/09/2002 7:47:11 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Illbay; Squantos; SpookBrat; CaTexan; anymouse; Allegra; archy; bexardave; Billie; boofer_billy; ...
This is abhorrent in the most extreme. Ouch!
Ping some Texans and some others too!
22 posted on 07/09/2002 7:47:53 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: Pete
Your post displays a misuse of statistics which is, at best, ignorant. Are you sufficiently educated in that discipline to understand how, or shall I spell it out for you? (I realise that you didn't write it.)
23 posted on 07/09/2002 7:50:58 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard
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At least five years in prison sounds about right.

. . . unless the kidney damage is permament. In that case, 20 years to life would be in the ballpark. If the kid dies, try them all for murder-one (although the conviction would likely come back at murder-two).

24 posted on 07/09/2002 7:51:45 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Illbay
Yup. These two are lucky they picked the right kid to beat....

Personally, It wouldn't have been me that called the cops, it would have been the coroner......

25 posted on 07/09/2002 7:51:57 AM PDT by hobbes1
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To: Illbay
The family said the Thompsons brought the boy home and suggested he wear long sleeves for a while. The family said one of the brothers told the boy's stepfather, "It's your turn now" and that they suggested he "finish the job."

The cops would have found these two geniuses dead on my fron porch.

26 posted on 07/09/2002 7:54:33 AM PDT by Bandolier
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To: hobbes1
You beat me to it.
27 posted on 07/09/2002 7:56:29 AM PDT by Bandolier
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To: Illbay
Those two sick SOB's need to have a royal @ss kickin. IN jail or out I don't care...... It's one thing to have granny take a willow switch to yer hiney if ya mess up bad.

But for the Preacher to take the equal of an axe handle to your back'n butt is criminal. If this kid dies ,IMHO it is capitol murder .....yes/no ?

Stay Safe !

28 posted on 07/09/2002 7:56:58 AM PDT by Squantos
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To: Illbay
And don't tell me this was an "isolated incident."

This was an isolated incident.

If you are aware of more evangelical church savage beatings, please let us know.

Cordially,

29 posted on 07/09/2002 7:56:58 AM PDT by Diamond
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To: Illbay
No wonder the "evangelical" movement has peaked and is now experiencing a downturn in membership….

The downturn in evangelicalism is real, though I doubt this church really preaches “by grace, through faith”. My guess is this church prides itself on its fundamental dogma, and the gospel preached there is founded on works.

The confessing church throughout time has always preached Christ came for sinners, standing in the fray, while Gnostics on the left deny the body, blood and incarnation, and fundamentalists on the right negate the sacrifice by requiring works of the law. This church is probably no more a place of worship than Joe’s garage.

30 posted on 07/09/2002 7:57:02 AM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: crystalk; RightOnTheLeftCoast; Illbay; Reborn
This is clearly just a case of two evil men who have cloaked themselves in the robes of Christianity. They are no more Christians than a homosexual who poses as a Catholic Priest and assaults a teenage boy.

It’s faulty reasoning to use this incident to smear Christians of any denomination when The Scriptures obviously contradict this type of behavior.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

31 posted on 07/09/2002 7:59:03 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel
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To: Owl_Eagle
They are no more Christians than a homosexual who poses as a Catholic Priest and assaults a teenage boy.

Bears repeating.

Wolves in sheep's clothing.

32 posted on 07/09/2002 8:01:09 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Diamond
This was an isolated incident.

I believe you are correct. I also believe sexual assaults on boys and young men by Catholic priests and Mormon elders are isolated incidents.

Illbay ought to appreciate that.

33 posted on 07/09/2002 8:04:03 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Illbay
I would remain open minded until the bed and home are checked for DNA evidence,by reading the article I assume the step father beat him....but I guess that is my right to be the exact opposite of your quick conviction.

An 11-year-old boy who read the wrong Bible verse at church was severely beaten with a tree branch by a Baptist pastor and the pastor's brother, the boy's family said.

I'll wait for evidence to pass final judgement in this church blaming media atmosphere.

34 posted on 07/09/2002 8:04:59 AM PDT by Minnesoootan
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To: strela
I wonder how long it will take the same posters who continually bay for Islam to be destroyed as a religion to call for the wholesale rounding up and internment of every Christian in Texas.

The difference here is that the vast majority of Christians view this act as an atrocity, and want the perpetrators punished. The Islamic world, by and large, has institutionalized this sort of barbaric behaviour.

35 posted on 07/09/2002 8:06:46 AM PDT by Dakmar
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To: Bandolier
The family said one of the brothers told the boy's stepfather, "It's your turn now" and that they suggested he "finish the job."

Let's see what more comes of this. Perhaps the stepfather did part of it. It's very early and usually somebody talks after the initial police reports are published.

36 posted on 07/09/2002 8:07:42 AM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: Illbay
Having been a member of the congregation of a church where the pastor behaved improperly (consentual sex with adult members), and having served as the Chair of the Church's Constitution Team in the aftermath, I have somewhat of a unique perspective.

The problem as I see both the recent Priest scandals and with this incident is the WILLINGNESS of the sheeple in the congregation to totally rely on someone else for their education in faith. Very seldom do I see christians conducting their own education. Rather, they rely on the clergy to TELL them what is right and wrong and when the clergy backs it up with a scripture or two - often taken out of context - the sheeple accept it as truth without conducting their own research.

This "absolute trust" leads to an environment where behaviors are not questioned or supervised. The clergy and pastors are allowed to have a free hand in the running of the church without oversight. In my particular involvement, I found that the pastor had been able to push through a number of changes to the Church's constitution that made is removal near impossible (he was removed anyway). Also, he had managed to consolidate almost all power into the office of the Sr. Pastor without any oversight. It was necessary to correct this by distributing powers and adding checks and balances to the constitution.

While the age of the pastor is only a minor issue to me, I would be concerned that a pastor would be taking children from the church. Our revised constitution made specific rules for the custody of children and what could and could not be done. One of the first rules was that parents would be the first notified of any misconduct. Teachers, Church staff, and Ministerial staff were NOT allowed to punish children in any way. This policy was adopted to clearly articulate to the staff acceptable behaviors. It sounds to me that this church has never addressed such issues.

As such, it exposes the church to lawsuits. I think that churches should review their constitution for a balance of powers and review their policies with a view of preventing conduct that would expose the church to a lawsuit. Such reviews may take a more cynical approach that maybe uncomfortable, but they are of great value in preventing things like this in the first place.

On a side note - Having been through the most basic process of creating a small constitution, I now have much greater appreciation for our founding fathers and the task that they faced. I would imagine that a simular exercise for a class on American History would be a great teaching tool.

Just my .02

37 posted on 07/09/2002 8:09:32 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: Minnesoootan
I'll wait for evidence to pass final judgement in this church blaming media atmosphere.

Because you are neither judge nor jury with any power at all to affect the lives or future of the alleged assailants, you ought to feel free to "judge" all you want.

Oh wait, you are judging. You're accusing the step-father. Well enough.

38 posted on 07/09/2002 8:10:49 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Dakmar
The difference here is that the vast majority of Christians view this act as an atrocity, and want the perpetrators punished.

All Christians view this act as an atrocity and want the perpetrators punished.

39 posted on 07/09/2002 8:13:49 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Kevin Curry
Thank you for correcting me, I should have said all true Christians or the vast majority of nominal Christians.
40 posted on 07/09/2002 8:16:26 AM PDT by Dakmar
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