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	Trinity Baptist Wants 5 Sex Suits Dismissed Florida Times-Union August 9, 2007 http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080907/met_189912927.shtml Trinity Baptist Church is seeking the dismissal of five lawsuits filed against the Jacksonville congregation by women who say they were sexually abused as children in the 1970s and 1980s by the former Rev. Robert Gray. Dismissal arguments were heard in two of the cases Wednesday. Trinity attorney Ed Trent argued that the statute of limitations expired years before the women filed their actions this year. The plaintiff's attorney, Miami lawyer Adam Horowitz, countered that the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed because it was only in the past one or two years that his clients learned that the church may have known about Gray's propensity to abuse children. Gray, 81, is living on home arrest pending a November criminal trial on four counts of capital sexual battery. The statute of limitation is four years in such cases. Trent said that four-year period can begin on the 18th birthday of victims if they were abused as children and their parents did not know about it. In both cases heard Wednesday, the statute expired in the 1990s, Trent argued. Judge Bernard Nachman ruled that Horowitz can proceed in developing a case and set a hearing for Jan. 8 to determine if the suit can proceed. Judge Charles Mitchell said he would take the arguments under advisement. All the lawsuits claim the church should be held responsible for allowing Gray access to children.
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