Jury acquits former San Jose youth pastor of sexual abuse charges

MORGAN HILL A jury fully acquitted a San Jose nonprofit director of sex abuse charges alleging he molested two girls when he was a youth pastor at a San Jose church concluding a dramatic trial that saw him fight back by framing the charges as a conspiracy by his accusers families to land a multi-million dollar legal settlement Former South Bay youth pastor and nonprofit leader Brett Bymaster walks out of the Morgan Hill courthouse after being acquitted of sexual abuse charges on November He was accused of sexually assaulting two girls under his supervision when he was a youth pastor at a San Jose church and defended himself by contending that the families of his accusers conspired to defame him in pursuit of a financial settlement from the church The verdict handed down late Wednesday evening in the Morgan Hill courtroom of Judge Stuart Scott exonerated -year-old Brett Bymaster of felony sexual abuse charges The event was built on accusations made by two sisters who claimed he serially groped and violated them when he was their youth pastor at The River church in San Jose between and A courtroom gallery occupied by a dozen of Bymaster s family and supporters collectively gasped and broke into tears when the verdict was read nearly an hour after the court had officially closed for the day Earlier in the afternoon jurors signaled to Scott that they had agreed to acquit on one count but had fallen just short of unanimity to on the rest Scott and the jury had been scheduling additional deliberations for Thursday and Friday and the installation of an alternate juror on account of one juror having prescheduled expedition During those discussions Scott noted that the deliberations on the remaining counts would need to start over because of the juror swap The jury had really left the courtroom when a minute later the foreperson returned with her colleagues in tow asking to hold another vote About minutes later they returned with unanimous not guilty verdicts on the remaining nine counts Bymaster was swarmed outside the courtroom by his supporters and he gave a prepared announcement to this news organization After over a year of waiting the truth has absolutely come to light I am grateful that the jury saw past the lies and prevented a miscarriage of justice he announced I am ready to get back to the hard work of serving Jesus and loving our neighbors in the downtown San Jose Washington society Our family continues to pray blessings and healing for all those involved both our accusers and our supporters Deputy District Attorney Christopher Paynter who prosecuted Bymaster disclosed he was not prepared to at once give a report on the trial outcome Bymaster who had gone on to help located the low-income advocacy nonprofit Healing Grove Healthcare Center in San Jose was arrested in April after a woman identified in court as K Doe notified San Jose police that Bymaster sexually assaulted her repeatedly starting when she was years old and continuing until she was Doe s claim fueled six child sex abuse charges including two that alleged intimidation or force that were approved for trial five months later following a preliminary hearing After that her older sister identified as J Doe came forward with her own account of abuse involving Bymaster which eventually added four more felony sex abuse charges to the prosecution s scenario Paynter portrayed Bymaster as a manipulator who leveraged his professional and spiritual authority over his accusers who were preteens and then teens over the module of the alleged acts leaving them helpless and having no confidence that church representatives would believe them The sexual touching alleged by the shared casualties included side hugs that the prosecution asserted were pretense for fondling their breasts and wandering massages as well as more serious alleged acts that involved contact with his penis Defense attorneys Dana Fite and Renee Hessling called the statements complete fabrications fanned by five influential church families who were looking to scapegoat the church for problems they were experiencing with their children which included a suicide attempt by K Doe when she was That motive took preexisting concerns about Bymaster s teaching and leadership style in which he was accused of bullying and transformed them into asserts of sexual abuse The attorneys then characterized the families as both deluding themselves and manipulating the Doe sisters into remembering abuse that did not occur Fite and Hessling argued that their theory explains why no sexual abuse insists were made against Bymaster until shortly before his arrest which was five years after he left the church even during multiple inquiries into his conduct But they commented the biggest motive for the reputed deception was to secure a million settlement for which the church set aside cash and property in anticipation of a sexual abuse lawsuit fueled by Bymaster s conviction Nowadays s verdict is a powerful reminder that our justice system works when jurors listen with open minds and full hearts We are deeply grateful for this jury s diligence compassion and unwavering attention to the evidence Fite and Hessling revealed in a joint declaration Their careful deliberation restored justice and gave Brett the chance to reclaim the future that was unfairly taken from him One of the catalysts for renewed scrutiny into Bymaster last year was the families dissatisfaction and maintains of betrayal after it was revealed that a inquiry did not make a good-faith effort to solicit and explore sexual abuse states Around the time the church broadcasted plans for a new external analysis in January San Jose police renewed their own study which stalled years earlier when initial alleges of abuse were recanted The two sides argued over both the timing of the claims as well as the claim by K Doe that she unlocked her repressed memories of Bymaster s abuse after undergoing eye movement and desensitization and reprocessing EMDR therapy at a Tennessee mental-health rehabilitation facility during an institutionalization that the church reportedly spent to fund The defense attorneys stated that account misrepresented EMDR s proclaimed benefits of diminishing trauma rather than revealing it Paynter and the defense squad also sparred over testimony from other girls under Bymaster s supervision who recalled instances in which Bymaster made sexually suggestive comments about their breasts and talked wantonly about masturbation and a past porn addiction But Fite and Hessling called various of those alleges a distortion of confessionals that Bymaster gave to reveal personal failings and open up candid dialogues about sex rather than prurient intentions This is a evolving story Check back for updates