BishopAccountability.org

Judge sentences Kenneth Adkins to 35 years for child molestation

By Eileen Kelley
Florida Times-Union
April 25, 2017

http://jacksonville.com/news/public-safety/georgia/2017-04-25/judge-sentences-kenneth-adkins-35-years-child-molestation

Kenneth Adkins listens impassively in Glynn County Superior Court Tuesday as Chief Judge Stephen G. Scarlett sentenced him to life in prison, but after 35 years the rest would be served on probation. With him is his defense lawyer, Kevin Gough.
Photo by Terry Dickson

Chief Judge Stephen G. Scarlett asks Kenneth Adkins’s defense lawyer, Kevin Gough, questions Tuesday before he sentenced Adkins to life in prison for child molestation, but after 35 years the rest would be served on probation, in Glynn County Superior Court.
Photo by Terry Dickson

BRUNSWICK, Ga. | Kenneth Adkins walked into the courtroom a very different-looking man Tuesday. Gone were the controversial man’s expensive tailored suits and ties he wore as a preacher and during his trial. Gone was his confident and pleasant-looking smile. Instead, a handcuffed Adkins emerged in a forest green jail-issued jumpsuit. His hands clasped a Styrofoam cup of coffee. His face sullen.Peering out into a crowded courtroom, Adkins got what is likely one last look at his detractors and law enforcement officers after being sentenced to life behind bars on child molestation charges. However, the judge ruled that after the first 35 years, Adkins can serve the balance of his sentence on probation.

Adkins was found guilty of eight charges on April 10. At age 57, it’s highly unlikely he will ever step a single foot outside of barbed wire again.

The court found that Adkins exploited children by acting as a father figure and giving them gifts when in reality he was just grooming a teen-aged couple for sex. The age of consent in Georgia is 16. The jury believed the teens were 15 when Adkins was watching them have sex to make sure they were doing it correctly and then eventually joining them in the sexual acts.

Adkins has repeatedly denied having sexual relations with the teens. At the time of his August arrest the teen-age girl had been living in Adkins’ home for a few years. The female in court denied that sexual acts ever occurred with or in front of Adkins.

In court Tuesday, Adkins again expressed his innocence publicly just before his sentencing. In a late afternoon phone call to the Times-Union Tuesday, Adkins once again said he was innocent.

The jury, he said, failed to comb through the evidence. In high-profile cases of Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman, Adkins said, the jury at least combed through the evidence and found reasonable doubt.

“With Zimmerman and Casey Anthony, those were courageous verdicts,” he said in the telephone call. “We may not agree with them, but they were courageous verdicts.”

Adkins was sentenced by Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett eight months after his arrest on 10 child molestation charges and a single charge of attempting to influence a witness. The influence charge and two molestation charges were dropped prior to Adkins’ early April trial. Adkins faced multiple life sentences, something a few who witnessed the sentencing said he deserved.

Prior to becoming a pastor in Brunswick, Adkins spent many years in Jacksonville as a public relations and political consultant after reinventing himself following a prison stint on drug charges. He recently raised the ire of many when he called gays sinners and attacked his critics on social media with crude, anti-gay rhetoric and cartoons. News of his arrest on charges that he had sexual relations with a young boy and girl stunned many in both communities.

Curtis Thomas clapped his hands after Adkins was told that following the sentencing.

“He was just so crude,” Thomas said. “Now I don’t want anything bad to happen to him in prison, but when you do something to a child like that, it’s messed up.”

Adkins, a former drug addict, has been arrested dozens of times in Florida, the last time was in the early 1990s. Scarlett chose to not take into account Adkins’ past criminal convictions when sentencing him. Had he, Adkins would have received life without parole. Adkins will be eligible for parole, but he will be a very old man should that ever happen, said his attorney Kevin Gough.

“He will never have liberty to do things freely,” Gough said.

Just before sentencing, the handcuffed Adkins rose from his seat and spoke in court for the first time. He explained to the judge that prior to being arrested on the molestation charges, the biggest battle he faced was to change the life he was living as a crack addict. Now, he said, he’s facing an even bigger demon.

“We’ve been in this community for 10 years and we’ve worked hard,” Adkins said.

Adkins told the judge that through his ministry he stressed to never allow a moment in time to define a whole person.

“Most certainly I did not do the things I am accused of,” he said. “… I did not do it, yet I respect the jury’s decision.”

Adkins’ accuser, a 22-year-old man now in the military, came forward a year ago and told investigators in Georgia that he offered up his girlfriend to Adkins as a gift for allowing the young couple to have sex without repercussions. He said he has been wracked by guilt.

A statement reiterating that was read in court Tuesday by Assistant State Attorney Katie Gropper.

“Throughout this time I’ve felt nothing but shame and guilt which later led to depression,” it read in part. “There is never a time I wish I could stop thinking about it. Constantly depressed and never feeling like the shame or guilt would leave, I considered multiple easy outs. Once I figured out who Kenneth Adkins truly was, it hurt and I didn’t want to believe it. Weighing the positives and the negatives was the most difficult part. Attached to those feelings I felt like if I said anything, I would be betraying him. He was the closest thing to a father that I had. I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to believe that I was a victim. … I felt so emasculated back then and even now. ”

Shortly before the trial, Adkins turned down a plea deal from the state that likely could have sent him away for a minimum of 30 years.

Adkins’ attorney on Tuesday filed a motion for a new trial and also withdrew himself from the case saying Adkins doesn’t have the money for a private attorney. Any hearing on a retrial — a precursor for an appeal — likely wont happen for more than a year. Neither Adkins’ wife nor his 10 children attended any of the trial. A few of his foes did though.

Robert Griffin, a retired educator and political activist was one of 35 people who filled the courtroom benches to witness the sentencing. He attended four days of the trial.

“I think it was justice well-served,” Griffin said. “I don’t care too much for the reverend — I hate to call him reverend — Ken Adkins. I think he was a menace to society. … He has said so many evil things about people. He’s gone on Facebook acting like somebody from a mental institution. I think between here and Jacksonville, he’s made everybody angry. That boy sure knows how to make people angry.”




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