Following more than 10 hours of testimony, the defense of former First United Methodist Church pillars Paige Williams and Abby Leach came to rest Thursday afternoon in Christian County Circuit Court — anger, frustration, tears and a few quick laughs breaking into an emotional day.
At the zenith of the afternoon session: an extensive deposition from Williams, who after 10 years of pastoral love at FUMC is charged alongside Leach with the alleged “breaching” in duties aligned with the utmost care of eight children in the nursery.
In his cross examination of Williams, Special Prosecutor Blake Chambers worked half an hour at trying to prove a modicum of negligence and shortsightedness in protocol and chain of command within the church itself, as convicted former daycare workers Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan exhibited harm.
Repeatedly, Chambers noted that early warning signs of Simpson’s behavior in September 2018 should’ve prompted some heightened level of official concern, and by January 2019, it was too late.
At 4:33 PM, Williams told Chambers she wouldn’t “testify under oath that [she] did nothing,” and 10 minutes later, she told the court she was “doing [her] best to tell the truth to the [jury] and the court.”
What transpired prior to Chambers’ efforts was impassioned testimony through defenders Bill Deatherage and David Bundrick, about a leader who did what she believed she could within the confines of her roles inside the church.
It also came with an impassioned plea to the court surrounding the circumstances.
Her face went to her hands, and she wept on the stand. As did several others on her side of the courtroom.
Williams unspooled her entire life history — from her childhood in Earlington, her marriage to young sweetheart Charles, to her GED/community college/Western Kentucky University/Vanderbilt education thread.
Appointed in 2009 to FUMC after a number of previous stops within the Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Williams served the Hopkinsville parish in a number of ways. A number of changes and obligations within FUMC were immediately impacted, and during this tenure, she testified that “Safe Sanctuaries” came into effect, training more than 100 congregates. The day care, she said, was already in place — with a number of previous day care committee chairs rolling through, including District Judge Lindsey Adams and former Mayor Dan Kemp.
Williams held three services on Sunday totaling 400-plus people, held Bible study, counseling and several other internal and external relationships.
Williams also gave an in-depth account of a January 22, 2019 text message from day care parent Katie Hanning, bringing about issues within the walls. She had an email the same day from parent and lawyer, James Adams, and soon after, the three would discuss that one of the children was “going to be hurt by Allison Simpson.”
On January 23, 2019, Simpson was fired. Williams said she did not protest, and Williams told Leach that a letter “needed to go out to the parents.”
On January 24, 2019, Williams said she received text messages of screen captures of a digital conversation — the one between Leach and former day care worker Courtney McCombs. Williams said she started jotting down all notes and called Adams.
Soon after, Williams said she received a message from Adams that said, “Confidence is lost.”
Leach then called Williams, and this conversation ended with Leach telling Williams she was going to resign.
By 9:30 PM January 24, 2019, a church meeting was held, in which Paige Parker — day care chairperson at this point — calls the Hopkinsville Police Department. A new camera system in place, the time stamps were wrong on videos. The police leave, but not long after, general church jack-of-all-trades Johnnie Shaver locates January 9, 2019, video of children being physically roughed by Simpson.
This footage was confirmed on the spot by Travis and Laura Faulkner, and the police are called again, with the Faulkners pressing charges.
Williams also recounted a parent meeting soon after, in which tensions naturally rose.
The day care was closed for the rest of that week, and a report was made to the Cabinet and DCBS. State agents interviewed Williams over the next seven-plus days, and longer, and from then Williams testified she’s had at least two major interviews with HPD Detective Mike Luckingham — one of those conversations in front of her attorney, Deatherage.
Williams then said she had a conversation with the Methodist bishop — and it was recommended she take “time off” for several weeks. She returned for awhile, but was permanently shelved in August 2019. No longer under the care of home provisions for her pastoral work, she and her husband moved to Cadiz soon after.
Williams also testified that she had never committed a crime before, save a couple of speeding tickets, and that this charge had been “devastating.”
More testimony came after 5 PM Thursday. Paige Parker, Christian County Circuit Clerk and former FUMC daycare committee chair, told Chambers that in her August 2018 meeting minutes, Cynthia Loftus had reported that a worker had “poured her heart out” in a public setting at a summer wedding.
Earlier in the afternoon, following lunch, a number of people created a landscape of how internal and external leadership worked within the United Methodist Church — including FUMC secretary Vicki Rowe, a 2018 Day Care Committee member in Lindsey Higgins, a long-time appointed elder in Randy Shrauner and a 37-year Methodist veteran in Thomas Smith.
At the center of that entirety was the “hiring and firing” rules that only existed within the confines of the Staff-Paris Relations Committee and “The Book of Discipline” — a set of rules that guides the world’s Methodist order and theology.
In Chambers’ cross examination of Smith, he asked Smith if “The Book of Discipline” had any authority over the common laws of Kentucky, to which Smith said, “no.” Furthermore, with “The Book of Discipline,” Smith testified that it doesn’t have “much guidance” in regards to complex day care organization — but it does have some clarity on basic weekday ministry and day care efforts. Smith said it would likely come down to “local church authority.”
Chambers also said “you can’t committee yourself out of a crime.”
Just before lunch, FUMC’s Director of Adult Discipleship Jeff Calhoun told Chambers that the idea of Williams “hiding” any harming of children would be a work of fiction.
Muhlenberg County special judge Brian Wiggins noted that court will begin at 8:30 AM Friday, with closing arguments and a potential verdict possible later in the day.
WILLIAMS, CHAMBERS EXCHANGE:
WILLIAMS’ FULL TESTIMONY:
