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 ...
The accusation may not be ‘forced rape’. If the girl is a minor and consented it is still rape. Let me look this man in the eyes and I can discern ...
Does this man have a teenaged natural son who would have similar DNA?
You may have the last word.
From another article:
Her older biological sister (24) has apparently been in a relationship with David Richards, who is her adopted father as well.
Amber herself had a lawsuit for $17 million against the children’s home where the pastor also worked and she and her sister were adopted from.
The news reports on this case are pretty sketchy, so I would be reluctant to give an opinion with much certainty either way, but I’m leaning guilty on the basis of what’s here.
This man is not truthful. The live-in relationship with the older sister should alert any Christian that this man is not what he pretends to be.
Exactly. Unfortunately the news coverage could have been more conclusive on that relationship. I say that because we know that the media isn’t above absolutely misrepresenting facts, distorting or omitting things to paint innocent people guilty and guilty people innocent, whenever it suits their purposes. That said, if this story is accurate and Richards didn’t have innocent and true explanations for his relationship with the sister, then just that relationship alone does show he’s not the Christian he claims to be.
“And for those asserting the ‘evidence was planted’, explain how this girl could obtain ‘evidence’ to plant there!”
Not sure if his lawyer tried the evidence was planted theory. If not he needs a better lawyer.
Have you see the movie “The Crush”. The girl took a condom out the trash to use as evidence. If she is evil she could have gotten something out of the laundry room or maybe a condom from the trash.
“Her older biological sister (24) has apparently been in a relationship with David Richards, who is her adopted father as well.”
But if you read the article in the link
“Her cross-examination also revealed that Megan Richards, now 24, currently shares a home with David Richards in Lenoir City, and works as an office assistant at his trucking business, Purpose Transport LLC.”
“You can infer whatever you want from the facts,” Ogle told jurors during his closing argument. “But it’s not a typical father-daughter relationship. ... It’s an awful lot of smoke.”
David and his ex-wife adopted and raised all the sisters.
That does not prove David had a relationship with the older sister. Did the Prosecutor infer this because the older sister contradicted Amber testimony?
She could be a child who has not left home yet that needs a little extra help since life is stack up against her.
My brother let his step daughter move back into the house at age 23 until she can back on her feet again. No smoke there
Explaining the seminal dna on the bed frame is a bit difficult.
Maybe he had some on his hand after having sex with his wife (or himself) - a first-year law student should be able to get this overturned on appeal.
see post 27
According to the article the purple rug and the washed bedclothes held evidence.
What you wrote is why I added this:
“The news reports on this case are pretty sketchy, so I would be reluctant to give an opinion with much certainty either way, but I’m leaning guilty on the basis of what’s here.”
Then I also wrote this:
“Exactly. Unfortunately the news coverage could have been more conclusive on that relationship. I say that because we know that the media isn’t above absolutely misrepresenting facts, distorting or omitting things to paint innocent people guilty and guilty people innocent, whenever it suits their purposes. That said, if this story is accurate and Richards didn’t have innocent and true explanations for his relationship with the sister, then just that relationship alone does show he’s not the Christian he claims to be.”
So I’m fully open to the possibility that he could conceivably have some innocent explanations for what according to the prosecution is a relationship. Obviously, if he had them, his attorney would have brought them up.
Likewise, if he did, then the media should have presented those responses.
So either he didn’t seriously challenge that perception, or the media dishonestly left them out to make him look bad.
There is an answer to that question, too, but this article alone just doesn’t give enough information to conclude what it is, either way.
I don’t think it’s that easy to dismiss the dna evidence. It can be argued against, but it is also in the room where the crime allegedly happened. Also, I think they can estimate how old evidence is, iirc.
And, since he’s sentenced to 12 years, that means he lost.
So he raped the bed post?
So he makes love with his wife, unknowingly gets semen on his hand, later goes into the girls room and touches the bed post. girl is not there at the time.
This does not sound like a very strong case.
I hope you don’t think I wrote that bit about semen on hands then later bed posts.
I think the guy is guilty.
First, I whisper that those who desperately want this man to be innocent, but he was found, in a court of law, GUILTY!
One poster said I didn’t know enough to determine or speculate on his guilt or not but, tired of defending this man, who got TEN YEARS IN JAIL MAY I ADD, I would suggest that the fact that he was found guilty in a court of law gives me an edge.
Then there’s some story about a disease that makes children be mean to their parent and I am supposed to believe this would not be determined in a court of law, that the defense at the least would make an argument.
I am sure that adolescent got examined by a medic of some sort. I am not sure that a 14 year old would be so good at lying in court, in front of hostile defense attorneys. That’s a lot for essentially a kid.
But for some reason people on this thread want this guy to be innocent so they argue their case.
Despite our lackluster FBI and some bad legal people, I truly believe that most legal practitioners, investigators, detectives, cops....et al....don’t want to put an innocent man in jail, that they’d rather find the REAL guilty party.
But I went on entirely too long but I add, again, I think the guy is guilty.
I don’t know anything about this case.
I knew someone who did this as well. It took a while for them to figure out she was lying and her family’s lives were destroyed forever. It was so awful.
That makes no sense either. Where would you
expect his DNA to be after his accuser said he raped her repeatedly? Take a guess, it’s not hard.
Ecumenical thread ????
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.