Robert Preston Morris, the founder of Dallas-area megachurch Gateway, was indicted in March on five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child, according to a March 12 news release from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office.
Related:Will Robert Morris child abuse charges stick? Lawyers say statute of limitations is key
Morris’ initial court appearance is scheduled for May 9 at 10 a.m., according to a spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. Morris is scheduled for a “pre-preliminary hearing” Friday, according to Osage County court records.
At the hearing, attorneys have the opportunity to negotiate a plea bargain offer, and if a defendant chooses not to accept a plea offer, he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing, according to the Oklahoma Bar Association.
Morris has not responded to letters and at least five phone calls from The Dallas Morning News seeking comment. The News called two phone numbers listed in public records for Morris on May 7 and left a voicemail at one of them and did not receive a response.
Morris’ attorney, Mack Martin, declined a March request to comment and could not immediately be reached by phone on May 7.
Related:Robert Morris: What to know about Gateway founder, abuse allegations, fallout
Here’s what to know about the charges against the former Dallas megachurch pastor.
Morris has shared one public statement on the allegations
Last June, Cindy Clemishire publicly alleged that Morris sexually abused her from the ages of 12 to 17 in the 1980s. She shared her story in a June 14 story in Christian blog The Wartburg Watch.
Related:Woman who accused Gateway Church founder of sexual abuse says recovery has been ‘lifelong’
Morris has provided one public statement on Clemishire’s story. He shared a statement with The Christian Post for a June 15 article, and he admitted to “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.”
“It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years,” according to Morris’ statement.
On June 18, Gateway announced Morris had resigned.
The AG used a frontier-era law to indict Morris
When Clemishire first alleged Morris abused her, legal experts said they doubted Morris would face any criminal charges.
That doubt was rooted in statute of limitations laws. Those laws typically determine how long an alleged victim of child sexual abuse can wait before initiating legal action against the person who allegedly abused them.
Attorneys told The News that in the 1980s, Texas law said a case against someone accused of abusing a child must be brought within a few years of the alleged abuse.
Drummond, Oklahoma’s AG, told The News in a March interview that a frontier-era Oklahoma law might allow Morris to be prosecuted anyway.
Related:Gateway founder Robert Morris could turn himself in soon, Oklahoma Attorney General says
“When Oklahoma was formulating its constitution and statutory framework, we were ‘no man’s land,’ we were Indian territory,” Drummond said. He said the state put a law on the books to prevent people from neighboring states like Arkansas and Texas from coming to Oklahoma, committing crimes, and then returning home.
The statute he referenced says: “If when the offense is committed the defendant be out of the state, the prosecution may be commenced within the term herein limited after his coming within the state, and no time during which the defendant is not an inhabitant of or usually resident within the state, is part of the limitation.”
“I don’t know that that’s ever been challenged in court, and I anticipate that Mr. Morris and his team of lawyers will challenge that,” Drummond said.
Morris turned himself in on March 17
Morris turned himself in before 8 a.m., March 17, and surrendered his passport, according to Capt. Herb Cline of the Osage County sheriff’s office. He was released on a $50,000 bond, according to Nancy Dawson, Osage County’s deputy court clerk. He entered an initial not guilty plea, according to Osage County court records.
Related:Gateway founder Robert Morris turns himself in, according to Osage County courthouse
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five counts he has been charged with, according to the AG’s office.
Oklahoma AG briefly represented Clemishire in 2007
Drummond briefly represented Clemishire in 2007, according to Drummond and 2007 emails shared with The News last year.
In 2007, Clemishire reached out to Morris seeking damages for his alleged abuse to cover the cost of years of therapy.
“I entered into negotiations with Morris’ counsel to just get a simple reimbursement of her … and we were rebuffed — ‘It was her fault, she was the aggressor, seduced him,’” Drummond told The News in March.
In the 2007 emails, Morris’ then-attorney J. Shelby Sharpe corroborated Clemishire’s account that Morris began to conduct “inappropriate behavior” — “kissing and petting” — with her in 1982, when she was 12.
Sharpe also wrote: “It was your client who initiated inappropriate behavior by coming into my client’s bedroom.”
When reached for comment last year, Sharpe shared a statement with The News through an employee. “It was only informational for the attorney, that’s all that letter was. He never accused a child, nor would he ever,” the employee said.
Related:Ex-Gateway employees say the church had a culture of silence and trauma. Is that changing?
Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
