After hearing from defense attorneys during a pretrial conference Monday morning, Christian County Circuit Court Judge John Atkins said he is not going to order mediation in the criminal cases of four women facing child abuse-related charges at the First United Methodist Church’s daycare.
After hearing from attorneys for former daycare employees, Ashley Simpson and Nina Morgan, former pastor Paige Williams, and former daycare director Abby Leach, special prosecutor Blake Chambers said this criminal case is not the type of case to be easily mediated with the number of defendants and victims involved.
click to download audioJudge Atkins added they can still try to resolve the cases.
click to download audioLeach’s former attorney, Ben Fletcher who previously filed a motion to withdraw as her counsel, said he and Leach will be meeting with attorneys on Wednesday to get her new representation in her case.
Judge Atkins set another pretrial conference on March 14 at which time they will address any pending motions before the cases go to trial in June.
Simpson is facing 30 counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12 years old, and Morgan is facing two counts of criminal abuse of a child under 12. Williams and Leach are each charged with eight counts of first-degree complicity of criminal abuse of a child under 12 for allegedly breaching their duty to protect the minor children from Simpson and Morgan.
Investigators reported the alleged child abuse of the children occurred at the church’s daycare between December 2018 and January 2019.
