5/21/09 – 9 ex-Alamo group members to testify
Mercury News
May 21, 2009
The Associated Press
9 ex-Alamo group members to testify
TEXARKANA, Ark.—Nine former members of Tony Alamo’s ministry are to testify in a proceeding in California that an Alamo member wanted for child abuse hid from police.
Fifty-five-year-old Douglas Christopher is accused of using a paddle to beat then- 12-year-old Justin Smith in 1987 while church members watched. Alamo allegedly directed the punishment. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that Christopher wants the charge dismissed on grounds he did not get a speedy trial.
But the DA’s office says Christopher was hiding out, which negates the speedy trial argument.
In a civil lawsuit, a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas awarded Justin and his family more than $1 million for their suffering from the beating.
Alamo is jailed in Texarkana awaiting trial on juvenile sex-related charges.
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Information from: Texarkana Gazette, http://www.texarkanagazette.com