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 ...
Daft on my part, I agree — I just didn’t want it to disintegrate into a inter-Christian fight
I appreciate your points on this thread. It does seem that all are respectively stating their views, opinions and logical conclusions.
I would only urge you to read about Reactive Associative disorder and false accusations. Those kids aren’t evil, aren’t sociopaths - not yet - but they need help. I’m not saying conclusively this is the case, but I believe (not empirically) that this is the reasoning.
And I respect your opinion and the Judge’s differs from mine.
Was she checked right away. Did she get taken to the hospital after any of the rapes? Or was this later after she finally got someone to believe?
Without having been in the court room I can’t answer those questions. I never take the word of a single news report to frame the entire story. It is always framed from one side or another. Obviously the jury decided there was enough evidence not that they are infallible.
Oh yes, I see your point.
Well, I didn’t want to go there, but you are right. My Dad had had a massive heart attack. One day our parents were out of the house and my brother and I were snooping around their bedroom. We found a washcloth under the edge of Dad’s side of the bed with his used prophylactic wrapped in it. We knew by that he must have been on the mend. That was a few years before the first bypass surgeries, so we all had been concerned. Two teenagers fled that bedroom and never snooped in there again.
You have entirely too much faith in the courts. I've seen them get it wrong numerous times. Have you ever heard of the "innocence project"? It's a Liberal organization but they have gotten countless people out of prisons by proving their convictions invalid, and huge numbers of these were through DNA testing of evidence that *PROVED* I'm mean really *PROVED* not like that fake court proving but actually and rigorously prove scientifically that the accused man did not actually commit the crime for which he was convicted.
Courts are crap. They have a huge track record of failure, and not little failures either. Wreck a man's entire life sort of failures.
And nobody is ever held accountable for the slip shod crappy work courts do.
As I said, courts are crap. If that's all you've got, it doesn't impress me much.
That was my first thought too, but it is possible he wanted to make sure she didn't get pregnant so he may have let fly such that some ended up on the bed frame, though I think this is rather unlikely.
This whole story seems fishy. Both sides. One of the things that doesn't surprise me is the girl is suing the adoption home, as if they had anything to do with it, but when someone is seeing dollar signs in their eyes, my willingness to trust what they say goes down significantly.
Sounds like a framing.
You win.
You are 100% correct.
You may have the last word.
:::insert disdain here:::
Some people don't. You appear to be such an individual. Have a good day.
:)
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