By Lindsay Cates
Larry McKinley Clark, a Buena Vista pastor indicted in May on numerous charges of carnal knowledge and indecent liberties with multiple boys, is now scheduled to stand trial in Rockbridge Circuit Court Oct. 7.
Jail Photo
The trial had been set for July 28, but courts records show it was postponed after Clark’s attorney said prosecutors had delayed handing over a recording of police interviews with the alleged victims.
Clark, 62, was indicted by a grand jury on 20 counts of carnal knowledge, 14 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and three counts of child cruelty. All the incidents are alleged to have occurred between September 2011 and August 2013.
Clark was pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista before his arrest in November 2013.
On July 16, court records show, Clark’s lawyer, Kelly Cutler, filed a request for the trial to be postponed, arguing that Cutler needed more time to review a CD of an investigator’s interviews with Clark’s alleged victims. Cutler cited the “inaction of the Commonwealth” as the reason for asking for the delay.
The defense wanted ample time to call upon a forensic expert to evaluate the interviewing technique used by Rockbridge County Investigator Miles Kelly.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Christopher Billias did not respond to several phone messages from The Rockbridge Report. A spokeswoman for Cutler said Cutler had no comment.
The postponement was granted in late July, court records show.
At Clark’s preliminary hearing in Juvenile Court last February, at least one of the teenage boys testified via closed circuit television so he would not have to face Clark.
Three young witnesses, ages 17, 16 and 14, are scheduled to testify at Clark’s trial. According to court records, at least one of the boys will be allowed to testify by closed circuit television at the trial.
The maximum sentence for carnal knowledge with a minor is up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Child cruelty also carries a maximum 10 year prison sentence.