Disgraced former megachurch pastor Robert Morris waived his right to a preliminary hearing at a court appearance Thursday morning regarding accusations he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl over four decades ago.
Flanked by attorneys and wife Debbie, Morris appeared before Judge Cindy Pickerell at the Osage County District Court in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Morris confirmed he understood the implications of waiving the hearing.
Preliminary hearings are where a judge decides if there’s sufficient probable cause to proceed with a case. It’s also where unfavorable testimony may be heard.
Earlier this year, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a five-page indictment against Morris, alleging five counts of lewd molestation.
Pickerell ordered the 63-year-old Morris to return to court on Oct. 2 for his district court arraignment. During that court appearance, Morris will be able to enter a plea regarding the charges, ask for additional time, request a motion hearing, or set the case for trial.
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Morris, dressed in a dark suit and gold tie, sat approximately 10 feet from his alleged victim, Cindy Clemishire, now a grandmother. Clemishire has publicly accused the former Gateway Church founder of sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape by instrumentation beginning Christmas Day 1982 through 1987. Clemishire said the abuse ended when she was 17 years old and told her parents about Morris’s behavior.
Shortly before resigning from Gateway Church in 2024, Morris released a statement to his congregation admitting that for several years in his early 20s, he “was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.” Morris described the behavior as “petting and not intercourse.”
Clemishire has disagreed with Morris’s characterization of her as a “young lady.” She described herself as “a child,” wearing pink pajamas with bloomer pants over her underwear and a snap-up robe when Morris allegedly assaulted her.
In June, Clemishire’s attorneys filed a $1 million civil lawsuit against Gateway and more than a dozen current and former Gateway elders and media directors, along with Morris and his wife. She accused them of defamation after Morris called the sexual assault a “moral failure” involving a “young lady,” despite knowing Clemishire was 12 when it began.
Throughout the 10-minute hearing, Clemishire and her family observed Morris, who kept his gaze on the judge and did not look at the Clemishire family.
Clemishire previously released a statement addressing the decades-old allegations.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”
While in private practice, Drummond was Clemishire’s attorney in 2007 and sought to file a civil suit against Morris. Morris’s attorneys offered Clemishire $25,000 and wanted her to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Clemishire said earlier that all she wanted was for Morris to admit to the charges.
If convicted, the famed Texas televangelist is facing up to 100 years in prison.
This article has been updated.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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13 Responses
It must be in the water that fortunately most of us aren’t drinking. Where do these things come from that protecting these things especially when it involves children is normal. To play with words such as young lady vs child is beyond my understanding. Thank you god. It’s disgusting that a person in authority can hear these stories then immediately go into “protect the brand”. Grandma crouch did that with her grand daughter at TBN. American Christianity has lost its way. Oh and what did Jesus say about what is better to do if you hurt a child? Oh yeah, the evangelicals have already sent a memo to Jesus that particular verse is “ mean spirited” so of no use. And Jesus what did God say about judging? So there.
“Oh and what did Jesus say about what is better to do if you hurt a child?”
The clipart webcomic “Coffee with Jesus” put it this way:
JESUS: A millstone makes a poor flotation device.
Cindy Clemishire is a heroine. Talk about bravery, persistence and being willing to stand up for the truth. She’s a remarkable model of Christian virtue when you consider what she’s been force through by Morris and his cronies.
Not that I support Robert Morris. But if he had not admitted to any “inappropriate” behavior, this would be a “he said, she said” matter.
I doubt the defamation civil trial will get the full amount, they’ll probably settle.
I also suspect that even if Robert is convicted in his criminal trial, it will get overturned on appeal. As his case is beyond the statute of limitations, and the cowboy Era law the OK AG is trying to apply to “pause” the statute of limitations simply doesn’t apply to this case. He didn’t flee OK to avoid being caught.
Not exactly “he said she said” because there is corroboration from the people she told when she was 17, and the other people they were in conversation with. And the people who knew throughout the years. Even if he fully denied it, there were plenty of people who could testify that she told them at the time, and throughout the years.
As a father, I want to know why her parents get a pass for not calling the law.
Alan, this is akin to victim blaming. Should her parents have called the law? absolutely- but like the victim, Cindy, they were also groomed to revere this man that they welcomed into their home, and probably pressured to not destroy his bright and shining career. Child sexual abuse was not taken as seriously back then, and not prosecuted in the same way as today- so they also likely worried that it would ruin Cindy’s life as well.
But mostly what questions like this do is that it diffuses responsibility from the perpetrator- this is wholly and entirely Morris’s fault. He groomed his victim, her family, and the community to see him as a safe person, and to understand this as a mistake, not as a calculated act that he committed for 5 years. He created the environment that pressured the family NOT to take it further. This is NOT the parent’s fault- regardless of what they did or didn’t do- all of the fault is Robert Morris’s.
PTL for Cindy C. Great courage to face her rapist and his wife complicit to her pedophile husband’s crime! Praying for justice 100 yr sentence! $1 million is not enough but a start! God bless Cindy & her family!
I’m dumbfounded that it looks like the wives stay? Morris, Bickle, etc…
Is there some kind of psychological hold that keeps them in a relationship (that clearly has Biblical grounds for divorce) with perverted men? I don’t understand. Maybe this discussion would make an informative podcast.
Some of it is Winsome Christian Wifey conditioning.
Some of it is the Fame and Perks (and the Benjamins) of being THE Wife of a Famous Christian CELEBRITY Megapastor.
(Look at Camille Cosby for a Hollywood type example and Dorothy Sandusky for a sports type example.)
In Morris’ case it is probably because she views him as reformed and redeemed — not the same man anymore. He was perverse, but perhaps is not (present tense) perverse. He was wrong to enter into a public ministry with this past sin hanging over him, and wrong to not try to make it right when Mrs. Clemishire contacted him more than a decade ago. He mishandled all of the aftermath, and further, he is a prime example that our sins find us out.
The only way for Morris to save his reputation is to quietly, humbly and without a fight- admit what he did (including covering it up all these years) and acknowledge the pain he caused, especially by poo-pooing her when she tried to get an honest response from him. Then he quietly does his prison time.
Tue more he fights the worse he looks as it adds to her pain and the pain of everyone in the pulpit who have been wronged.
He actually has an opportunity to be an agent of healing if he humbled himself rather than fight for his so-called laid down life!
Little robert morris can no longer be referred to as pastor.