A few clicks after 5 PM Friday in the Christian County Circuit Court, a jury of six men and six women found former First United Methodist Church Pastor Paige Williams guilty on eight counts of criminal abuse (under 12) in the third degree, and former Day Care Director Abby Leach guilty on six counts of criminal abuse (under 12) in the second degree, as well as two counts of criminal abuse (under 12) in the third degree.
Second-degree is a Class D felony punishable by 1-to-5 years in prison, and third-degree is a Class A misdemeanor punishable with a fine up to $500 and a maximum of a year in jail.
At 7:30 PM Friday, the jury recommended Leach serve 1 year in prison concurrently on the six felony charges, with parole eligibility at 20%, and she was remanded into custody and incarceration.
A sentencing hearing for Leach was set for 1 PM Friday, March 17, in Christian County Circuit Court.
As of 7:05 PM Friday, the jury had recommended Williams pay $62.50 per child for a maximum fine of $500, with no jail time to be served, and the 12 were in chambers deliberating their recommended sentence for Leach — after hearing powerful testimony from six parents, one for each felony charge.
At 5:55 PM, Special Prosecutor Blake Chambers asked the jury to consider Williams serve 56 days in jail — one week for each child involved in the case. It was denied.
Chambers also asked the jury to consider a full year for the misdemeanor charges on Leach, then asked for them to sentence Leach consecutively for six years in total, and parole at 20% served.
Third degree is considered a “reckless” mental state, while second degree is considered a “wanton” mental state.
As the verdicts were being read aloud for each child, wails and cries could be heard from the packed courtroom. Some were for Leach and Williams. Some were for the children, now four years older after the 2018 and 2019 abuse from Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan.
It has been indicated to the News Edge that an appeal will be pursued in due time, but that is for another day.
Leach’s defense attorney David Bundrick noted in the sentencing phase that the jury, at one point, was deadlocked — before having a couple of questions cleared up by representation and Special Judge Brian Wiggins.
The jury used almost four hours to render judgment, which had to be unanimous.
In his closing arguments, Chambers followed Bundrick and Williams’ defender Bill Deatherage by asking the jury two questions.
What did these two women know?
And when did they know it?
Ninety minutes later, he asked for the jury to punish both.
In regards to the 2018 and 2019 abuse of eight infants in the nursery, with convictions of Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan already wrapped, Chambers said these were the two most important questions of the entire trial.
And while the jury has the authority to render guilty verdicts in the first, second, or third degree for criminal abuse, Chambers argued Williams and Leach, as leaders, acted “at the very least wantonly,” and perhaps intentionally — as complaints and concerns against Simpson kept building over the course of late 2017 until January 2019, and yet her employment remaining.
Chambers repeatedly pointed to a myriad of perceived delays in church leadership that occurred specifically over the back half of 2018, pointing at meeting after meeting where perhaps something was discussed — but little, if any, action was taken.
Instead, Chambers argued that former daycare workers like Audra Humphries White, Deneka Duerson, Kaitlyn McLean, Penny Jenkins, Courtney McCombs, and a handful of others were either not heard or were taken lightly in their wide-ranging issues.
Chambers did belabor two points: why was Simpson never approached about these issues by church authorities prior to her January 2019 firing, and why did it feel like the children had been disregarded just because they weren’t severely harmed?
In the final moments of his statements, Chambers replayed nearly all of the video clips of the children before showing a final montage of the infants. For some in the audience, it was the first time seeing Simpson’s roughing. Some of the footage drew audible, deep gasps. Others cried. The courtroom was silent.
Chambers also shared an opinion with the jury — one he formed early and before speaking with the eight families.
One of the biggest concerns with this trial, besides the systemic failure of a child care program, is the meaning of “actual custody,” and to whom does it belong and when.
