A Georgia pastor on trial in the rape of two underage girls has taken his life.
The pastor, 51-year-old Christopher Daron Smith, was pronounced dead on Tuesday, ABC affiliate WTVM reported. Smith was pastor of Word of Truth Outreach Ministries in Columbus, Georgia.
He reportedly took his life during a brief recess in his trial. Smith’s lawyer, Shevon Thomas II, told WTVM that he had found his client dead and was in “total shock.”
According to Thomas, Smith on Tuesday asked the judge to use the restroom after being denied a motion for a mistrial. When Smith didn’t return from the break, Thomas said he asked the judge for a few minutes to locate his client. That’s when Thomas found Smith’s body.
“I am just going to continue to pray,” Thomas told WTVM. “This is only the second trial that I have had. And for it to end this way, I just couldn’t see it coming.”
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Smith was arrested in 2019 after an hours-long standoff with police at his home, WTVM reported.
When U.S. Marshals came to Smith’s home with arrest warrants, Smith reportedly barricaded himself in his home and was thought to have a weapon. The standoff ended after several hours, and Smith was taken into custody.
Smith was being tried on two counts of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, sodomy, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. If convicted of the charges, he faced life in prison.
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3 Responses
Such an outcome left me affected. Empathy with DS who appears to have taken the least worse out from his point of view. Guilt that this empathy draws me into some neglect of the persons it is claimed he violated. Horrified by the force of retribution involved in legal justice. Diminished by a sense of personally incapacity to appreciate offence and retribution together and holistically, the two poles of this (victim and perpetrator) each breaking me up. Really does seem a situation for God having mercy on his soul.
At least his victims can take comfort that he won’t be hurting anyone else. Prayers for them and for all the families affected by this.
Anne: I agree with your comment, but if he was guilty did he escape justice?