Jail Photo
By Lindsay Cates
A former Buena Vista pastor was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a teenage boy from his congregation.
A jury in Rockbridge County Circuit Court deliberated for about 45 minutes before finding Larry McKinley Clark, 62, guilty of three counts of taking indecent liberties and two counts of carnal knowledge. Clark was pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista before being arrested in November 2013.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on five of the six charges Clark faced. One charge of carnal knowledge was dropped after the boy testified that, although Clark tried to sexually assault him four times, he succeeded only twice.
The jury recommended that Clark serve 35 years in prison and pay a fine of $107,500.
Defense attorney Kelly Cutler said Clark will appeal the decision.
“I’m not guilty, your honor,” Clark said to Circuit Judge Michael Irvine after the verdict was read. Irvine, who will determine Clark’s sentence, set a Jan. 5 sentencing date.
In May, Clark was indicted on more than 30 charges related to sexual assault and child cruelty with three boys. The court decided to sever the charges so as not to confuse the jury, and this trial was the first of three that were scheduled.
The jury’s decision apparently came down to the 16-year-old boy’s testimony. Now in high school, the boy was 13 when the behavior Clark was accused of began in September 2011. It continued until August 2013, according to the indictment against Clark. The boy testified via closed circuit television to avoid having to face Clark in person.
The boy said Clark started giving him preferential treatment only one week after he started attending the church in seventh grade. He said almost every Sunday Clark would take him to lunch at a fast food restaurant after the service and then drive him home. In the car, the boy testified, Clark sexually molested him almost every time.
The boy said Clark also took him to Clark’s house on four occasions. According to the testimony, on two of those occasions Clark attempted sexual assault, and on the two other occasions he was successful.
“Don’t tell nobody,” the boy said Clark told him.
“I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what he was planning,” the boy testified. He said that over the course of two and a half years he never told anyone because he was scared, and was afraid of what people would think.
When cross-examined by defense attorney Scott Livengood, the boy appeared distressed and confused. He took long pauses and said at times that he did not understand what Livingood was trying to ask. Judge Irvine had to intervene to prompt the boy and move the questioning along.
On Wednesday the defense brought forward a host of Clark’s church members and youth group members who testified that they never witnessed Clark alone with the boy or giving him special treatment of any kind.
In closing arguments Cutler said that the boy was just following a script and craved attention because of an unstable home life.
The boy’s mother stormed out of the courtroom while Cutler argued to the jury that she had no credibility and was disconnected with what was going on in her son’s life. Irvine ordered the mother not to return.
Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Christopher Billias closed by asking the jury why the boy would make the incidents up. Billias said the boy has had great difficulty in coming forward with his information and is dealing with intense shame, intimidation and embarrassment.
“If you observed him, he acted like a typical teenager,” Billias said. “He responded exactly as you would expect a victim of sexual abuse would.”
After jurors returned guilty verdicts, Livengood asked them to be merciful and give Clark a second chance. Billias reminded them that Clark had taken so much from the teen, including the belief that a church is supposed to be a safe place that offers hope and comfort.
The benches in the courtroom were filled with more than a dozen church members who still supported Clark. After the guilty verdict was read, many wiped tears from stricken faces.
In the hallway after Irvine dismissed court, the boy and his mother embraced.
“It’s over,” the mother said, weeping. “It’s all over.”