Posted on 05/14/2020 4:54:12 AM PDT by Cronos
A former pastor convicted of repeatedly raping his adopted teenage daughter was handed an effective sentence of 12 years in prison Thursday by a Knox County judge, who weighed the severity of the crimes against an outpouring of support for the man from friends and family in court.
David Lynn Richards Jr. continued to maintain his innocence, as he had throughout his trial, while asking for leniency from Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword. .. David Richards took the stand in his own defense, painting his accuser as a defiant teenager who first made her allegations of sexual abuse amid his attempts to impose strict rules for his children.
Forensic testing, however, uncovered the presence of seminal fluid with a DNA profile matching that of David Richards on the girl's bed frame. ... "I stand before you convicted of crimes I did not commit," said David Richards, 41. "I simply believe the system just erred in this case.
"I'm not sure why I'm here. ... but I assume it's for His purpose." ... More than 30 people sat on the defendant's side of the courtroom in a show of support, including David Thompson, who shared ministry duties with Richards at My Father's House Church of God in Lenoir City.
"I find it impossible for me to believe he's guilty of this," said Thompson, who echoed the call for leniency. "His business needs him. His family needs him. Our church needs him."..
David Richards was joined Thursday by a new attorney, Stephen Ross Johnson, who signaled his intention to seek a new trial.
(Excerpt) Read more at eu.knoxnews.com ...
I feel that this man has been wronged. I do not yet believe him to be guilty. He needs prayers and new evidence (where from, I don't know)
I dunno.
They found his seminal DNA on her bed post?
It don’t look good.
Yes, that is bad, but did she get it from somewhere? And why on just one place? and on the bed POST?
I think this is not a clear cut case. In fact my feeling based on what I read here is that he is an innocent man.
He was accused of repeated rapes but the
DNA was on the bedpost, nowhere else? That
Makes no sense.
exactly. furthermore the article originally said “given only 12 years because he is a man of God”
I find this entire case very, very fishy and I’m going to read more about this. I am convinced he’s innocent
If found on bed sheets or the girl’s underwear, maybe that’s good evidence. But the bed post? It’s quite likely been planted.
I knew of a young girl whose behavior was similar to that of a girl that had been molested. She was literally interrogated by mental health people until she said her father did it. After a investigation, which included a 2 hour interrogation of her father, the father was cleared.
Mental health people went after her again, this time she fingered her grandfather. That did not hold water either, but what happened was the relationships in this family were ruined for forever.
To many severity of sexual abuse of a child is so evil the severity of the accusation outweighs any evidence and the suspect is automatically guilty.
I’m with the pastor on this one. He’s likely innocent.
McMartin’s replayed.
It would seem to me that repeated rape leaves a hell of a lot more evidence than icky on the bedpost. Geez.
So her bio parents were there. She has mental disorders. Raped for years. And the only evidence is a bed post. I’m not saying he’s innocent, but that is a real low bar to sent somebody to prison.
I can dig through the trash of any guys house, and set him up like that. No pictures. No clothes. No police report or attempted police reports. No running away. That’s a real low bar, and they didn’t even say who’s bed it was originally. Luminol/DNA can be gathered decades after the fact.
Maybe there is circumstantial evidence where somebody saw something, or she called somebody. But being guilty of rape for a possible errant/transfer tissue sounds like a bit much.
I disagree. So we shall agree to disagree.
The teenage girl lied under the pressure of court?
Something happened is my stand but you may have the last word.
I’m done.
Sounds fishy to me too.
His children? There are others that could corroborate or denounce this claim? I wonder what they had to say on the matter.
And him being a pastor makes it worse - the “let’s hate on Christians” crowd are having a whale of a time WITH THE TITLE of the article - which was “Former pastor given just 12 years because ‘he was a man of God’” — and the judge never said that and the article doesn’t mention that.
Yes, it’s still gray. I would urge you also to read about Reactive Associative disorder kids. They have mental illnesses that take a lot of therapy to help. And this does lead to them accusing the parents of horrific things.
Exactly. This is a case, like all cases, where blaming the victim should be the first and only approach.
We may agree to disagree, but maybe you will agree neither one of us have enough factual evidence from the scene or police files to judge this man.
We are both basing our opinions on a news article that does not contain enough information and could be written with a slant.
I was not trying to imply the girl was pressured, rather gave a story of some people that were falsely accused to show that people are often falsely accused.
My personal belief on the subject girl is that she’s just a hateful person that never should have been in this family to begin with. If this girl has an anti-religious left-leaning background to begin with, placing her with a man of God could never have a positive outcome.
[Yes, it’s still gray. I would urge you also to read about Reactive Associative disorder kids. They have mental illnesses that take a lot of therapy to help. And this does lead to them accusing the parents of horrific things.]
Maybe because they washed all the bedding? Someone had it on their hand and used the post to stand up.
And for those asserting the ‘evidence was planted’, explain how this girl could obtain ‘evidence’ to plant there!
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