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	Charges Refiled in Church Sexual-Abuse Case By Derek Spellman Joplin Globe December 5, 2007 http://www.joplinglobe.com/neosho_newton_mcdonald%20county/local_story_338213119.html PINEVILLE, Mo. — The McDonald County prosecutor's office has refiled eight sexual-abuse charges against the pastor of a fringe church. A detective from the McDonald County Sheriff's Department, meanwhile, has complained to the state oversight board for attorneys about Prosecutor Janice Durbin's handling of two separate cases. Durbin's office on Monday filed four counts of second-degree child molestation, three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of sexual abuse against Raymond Lambert, 52, pastor of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church. Lambert is accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl several times between February 1995 and April 2003, according to court documents. Lambert had been facing three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and four counts of second-degree child molestation until Nov. 6, when Durbin's office dropped those charges. Also dropped that day were a charge of second-degree child molestation against Lambert's wife, Patricia Lambert, 50, and a charge of second-degree statutory sodomy against his sister-in-law, Laura Epling. As of Tuesday afternoon, no charges had been refiled against Patricia Lambert or Epling. Repeated phone messages left by the Globe for Durbin at her office last week and on Tuesday were not returned. Several efforts by Globe reporters to meet with Durbin in person last week and this week also were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Detective Jeff Sutherland of the McDonald County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday said he harbors concerns about Durbin in general. Sutherland said he sent a complaint last month to the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, the state disciplinary body for attorneys, specifically about Durbin's handling of two cases. Under its confidentiality rules, that office cannot comment on whether it has received a complaint or whether an investigation is pending. The first case cited by Sutherland involves Timothy R. Marrs, 43, of Pineville, who was charged in late September 2006 with a Class D felony count of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and a Class B felony count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Sutherland said the Marrs case had been pending for almost 14 months and a preliminary hearing still had not been conducted at the time of his complaint.no specific date for his complaint Online court records indicate that late last week, upon a motion from Durbin, a preliminary hearing was set for 1 p.m. Dec. 26 in the Marrs case. Sutherland said he also was upset about a planned plea agreement under which Jeremiah D. Flanary, 33, would be ordered to participate in a 120-day program for sex offenders in prison and then would be on probation for five years. The punishment would be in exchange for his pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. Each of the counts carries a maximum term of seven years in prison. Flanary pleaded guilty to the two counts in early November, and a sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 16. Sutherland said Flanary had confessed, both in statements and in writing, to raping a girl from the time she was 6 years old until she was 12. Sutherland said that although the confessions made the case against Flanary "rock solid," the plea agreement will allow the defendant to "walk away with a slap on the wrist." In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Durbin declined to comment on the plea deal with Flanary. Sutherland on Tuesday also criticized Durbin for what he described as a general reluctance to file charges despite evidence and a tendency to defer cases to assistants. "She needs to realize that she was voted into office by the people, and she needs to answer to them," Sutherland said. Sutherland said he is waiting to hear back from the state office. Asked if Durbin's refiling of charges against Raymond Lambert assuaged any of his concerns, Sutherland countered that Durbin had not refiled any charges against Patricia Lambert or Epling. Durbin's handling of the cases against the Lamberts and Epling already had drawn criticism from Erin Willis, a Pineville attorney representing one of the two alleged victims in those cases. Willis issued a statement Nov. 9 blasting Durbin's decision to drop charges against the Lamberts and Epling. Willis alleged that Durbin had not given either of the two alleged victims proper notice of necessary deposition dates and times, which would figure into her decision to withdraw the charges. Willis said in the statement that the alleged victims had been "ostracized" by others in their church's community for coming forward to authorities for protection of themselves and others. She said Durbin's decision left them "abandoned" and "deeply saddened." Durbin told the Globe last month that her decision to drop all counts against the Lamberts and Epling stemmed from a technical issue. The defendants had been scheduled to go to trial about a week after the charges were dismissed. Durbin said she had to drop the charges after problems developed in getting the alleged victims deposed by the defense on Nov. 1 and Nov. 5. The defendants' attorney, Robert Evenson, of Pineville, filed a motion Nov. 6 citing the lack of those depositions as reasons why all charges against his clients should be dismissed. Either that, Evenson argued, or the two alleged victims should be barred from being witnesses in the case. Durbin told The Associated Press that if she had not dismissed the charges, the judge could have ordered the trial to proceed without the two women, effectively rendering the case untenable. George Otis Johnston, 64, pastor of Grandview Valley Baptist Church North in Newton County, a sister church to Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, still faces sexual-abuse charges. Between Newton and McDonald counties, Johnston is accused of nine counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, six counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and two counts of first-degree child molestation.
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