{"id":16988,"date":"2019-05-13T11:38:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T19:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/progressivesecularhumanist\/?p=16988"},"modified":"2019-05-13T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T19:38:42","slug":"pastor-who-repeatedly-raped-daughter-14-gets-light-sentence-because-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/progressivesecularhumanist\/2019\/05\/pastor-who-repeatedly-raped-daughter-14-gets-light-sentence-because-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Pastor Who Repeatedly Raped Daughter, 14, Gets Light Sentence Because Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Nothing says \u201cgood Christian man\u201d like rape and incest: Tennessee Pastor David Richards received a light sentence after being convicted of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a despicable miscarriage of justice, Judge Steven Sword sentenced Pastor Richards<\/a> to only 12 years in prison for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter over the course of several years. In court, prosecutors argued the severity and heinous nature of the crimes deserved a minimum of 72 years in prison, but Judge Steven Sword<\/a> felt otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n

Judge Sword, showing sympathy and empathy for the rapist, while minimizing the human suffering caused by Pastor Richards, cited the \u201cgood work\u201d the rapist and incestuous pedophile had done in the community in an attempt to justify the light sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n

During sentencing, Judge Sword praised Pastor Richards\u2019 longtime ministry<\/a> and the support he still receives from his congregation as mitigating factors. Judge Sword also praised Pastor Richards for leading a Bible study while incarcerated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year a jury found Pastor Richards guilty on nine felony counts, including rape, incest and sexual battery by an authority figure.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the<\/span> Knoxville News Sentinel<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 the Tennessee pastor raped and sexually abused his daughter Amber Richards for two years beginning when she was 14.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amber Richards gave a moving victim statement Thursday, saying: <\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to throw my body away. Not a day goes by that I don\u2019t, in some way, think of what he did to me.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Richards continued:<\/span><\/p>\n
I firmly believe if given the opportunity, he would victimize another girl.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nHowever, despite the overwhelming evidence, including forensic evidence showing traces of Richards\u2019 semen on his daughter\u2019s bed frame, many in the community refused to believe that Pastor Richards was a rapist. <\/span><\/p>\nFor example, Pastor David Thompson, who shared ministry duties with Pastor Richards at My Father\u2019s House Church of God in Lenoir City, said: <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>I find it impossible for me to believe he\u2019s guilty of this. His business needs him. His family needs him. Our church needs him.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIn fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2019\/05\/13\/pastor-raped-daughter-14-gets-light-prison-sentence-man-god-9515582\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">over 30 parishioner<\/a>s from the church came to court to show support not for the victim, but for the rapist.<\/span><\/p>\nAt sentencing, Pastor Richards refused to take responsibility for his heinous crimes. Instead, the \u201cgood Christian man\u201d blamed the victim while claiming he was innocent. Pastor Richards said:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>I stand before you convicted of crimes I did not commit. \u2026 I\u2019m not sure why I\u2019m here. \u2026 but I assume it\u2019s for His purpose.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nBottom line: Tennessee Pastor David Richards was supposed to get 72 years in prison after being found guilty of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter, but instead he received only 12 years because Judge Steven Sword admired the good works of this \u201cgood Christian man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16994\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16994\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/410\/2019\/05\/DavidRichards1.png\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16994\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/410\/2019\/05\/DavidRichards1.png\" alt=\"Pastor Who Repeatedly Raped Daughter, 14, Gets Light Sentence Because Jesus (Image via Twitter)\" width=\"768\" height=\"392\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor Who Repeatedly Raped Daughter, 14, Gets Light Sentence Because Jesus (Image via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nothing says \u201cgood Christian man\u201d like rape and incest: Tennessee Pastor David Richards received a light sentence after being convicted of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter. In a despicable miscarriage of justice, Judge Steven Sword sentenced Pastor Richards to only 12 years in prison for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter over the course of several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1730,"featured_media":16994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,28,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian","category-crime","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Tennessee Pastor Who Repeatedly Raped Daughter, 14, Gets Light Sentence Because Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nothing says \u201cgood Christian man\u201d like rape and incest: Tennessee Pastor David Richards received a light sentence after being convicted of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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