gn1g
Well-Known Member
FORT WORTH – Arlington pastor Terry Hornbuckle was convicted Tuesday on three charges of sexual assault, ending almost five days of jury deliberations in the high-profile case.
The jurors rendered their decision about 3:30 p.m., after 33 1/2 hours of deliberations over six days. They sent out 42 notes with about 45 questions about testimony and evidence during their discussions.
Hornbuckle shook his head after the first verdict was read, then showed no reaction after that.
Defense attorneys for the charismatic Arlington pastor say he was an adulterer, but did not rape the women. Hornbuckle faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge.
After the verdicts were read, attorneys and state district Judge Scott Wisch were trying to determine whether to break for the day or go straight into the punishment phase.
Wisch, who is presiding over Hornbuckle’s case, and the attorneys for both sides said this is the longest they had seen a jury deliberate.
Hornbuckle, 44, founder of Agape Christian Fellowship in southeast Arlington, was accused of raping three woman. The trial began Aug. 2.
His first accuser, Krystal Buchanan, testified that Hornbuckle drugged and raped her inside a Euless apartment in July 2004.
The second woman, "Jane Doe," testified that she turned to her bishop for spiritual advice and that the counseling sessions turned sexual at least five times in early 2003. In Texas, it is against the law for a clergyman to use his influence to exploit for sex a parishioner’s emotional dependency.
The third woman, who is being identified by the pseudonym Kate Jones, is the only woman not affiliated with Hornbuckle’s church. She testified that she met Hornbuckle at a fitness club and that he drugged and raped her after they smoked methamphetamine together in 2004.
The jurors rendered their decision about 3:30 p.m., after 33 1/2 hours of deliberations over six days. They sent out 42 notes with about 45 questions about testimony and evidence during their discussions.
Hornbuckle shook his head after the first verdict was read, then showed no reaction after that.
Defense attorneys for the charismatic Arlington pastor say he was an adulterer, but did not rape the women. Hornbuckle faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge.
After the verdicts were read, attorneys and state district Judge Scott Wisch were trying to determine whether to break for the day or go straight into the punishment phase.
Wisch, who is presiding over Hornbuckle’s case, and the attorneys for both sides said this is the longest they had seen a jury deliberate.
Hornbuckle, 44, founder of Agape Christian Fellowship in southeast Arlington, was accused of raping three woman. The trial began Aug. 2.
His first accuser, Krystal Buchanan, testified that Hornbuckle drugged and raped her inside a Euless apartment in July 2004.
The second woman, "Jane Doe," testified that she turned to her bishop for spiritual advice and that the counseling sessions turned sexual at least five times in early 2003. In Texas, it is against the law for a clergyman to use his influence to exploit for sex a parishioner’s emotional dependency.
The third woman, who is being identified by the pseudonym Kate Jones, is the only woman not affiliated with Hornbuckle’s church. She testified that she met Hornbuckle at a fitness club and that he drugged and raped her after they smoked methamphetamine together in 2004.
