Indecent Liberties Trial Delayed for Warrenton Pop Singer, Son of Manassas Church Leaders

Fauquier Times
May 17, 2017

http://www.fauquier.com/news/indecent-liberties-trial-delayed-for-warrenton-pop-singer-son-of/article_89062fba-3b2b-11e7-a327-4fb5aa6511b6.html


A judge last week delayed the indecent liberties trial of model and pop singer Jordan David Baird, and fired his defense attorneys due to a possible conflict of interest.

Baird, 27, of Warrenton, is the son of a Manassas megachurch leader. Court records show one of his defense firm’s lawyers also oversaw a church investigation into allegations Baird had an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl.

Baird – second-place winner of CW’s singing competition show, The Next, in 2012 -- is charged with seven counts of indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial position for alleged sexual abuse at The Life Church, according to a criminal complaint filed in Prince William County Circuit Court. Baird has maintained he is innocent since the allegations went public, according to his attorneys.

According to prosecutors, Baird was a youth pastor at The Life Church in Manassas and was in a supervisory role over the girl during several alleged acts of sexual abuse between January and September 2015. However, his attorneys say Baird was the church’s director of music and was never employed as a youth pastor.

Baird, also a model with IMG Models and Modelogic, was set to stand trial before a jury May 8 through May 10 in Prince William County Circuit Court. But, just before the trial, a judge ordered his defense attorney to step away from the case.

In addition, prosecutors recently filed a motion detailing allegations from three potential female witnesses who say Baird also had inappropriate relationships with them while they attended The Life Church. The motion does not stipulate if the women were underage at the time of the alleged encounters.

Baird was originally arrested in Fauquier County on Aug. 17. Shortly after, Prince William police announced Baird was facing additional allegations from a second victim who came forward. But the charges related to the second victim have since been dropped.

New allegations

A motion to introduce new evidence, filed in circuit court by Fredericksburg Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kevin Gross, offers more details of the allegations related to Baird’s indictments and introduces the new claims from three other potential victims.

All three allege Baird either engaged in sexual touching with them, sent them sexually-suggestive messages or asked them to have sex with him.

Baird’s former defense attorneys, of the firm Simms Showers, said in a response to the commonwealth’s motion, that the three witnesses can’t give testimony relevant to the allegations in the seven indictments Baird is facing because “they did not witness any criminal conduct between [the alleged victim] and the defendant.”

Charges against Baird for an allegation involving one of the three potential witnesses were dropped in Prince William Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Nov. 15. According to the defense’s response, the charges were dropped because the young woman testified she was 18 when the alleged interactions took place.

“Simply because the commonwealth concluded that one case lacked the evidence to be pursued independently does not mean that the commonwealth can backdoor this evidence into a separate trial to try to create the illusion of a cloud of allegations hanging over the defendant,” the defense response says.

Attorney shake up

Gross originally filed a motion to disqualify the law firm Simms Showers from jointly representing Baird and The Life Church in March.

“An incorporated church and a criminal defendant charged with committing acts of sexual abuse at the church have very different interests,” Gross wrote in his original motion. “During trial, Simms Showers may well find itself in the position of discrediting one client’s testimony in order to protect another client.”

Judge David H. Beck denied Gross’ original motion.

However, Gross filed a second motion to disqualify Baird’s representation on April 21 shortly after submitting a request to subpoena the firm’s president.

In a motion to quash the commonwealth’s subpoena of H. Robert Showers, attorneys wrote that Showers “often legally directed the next steps for the inquiry and beyond” in the church’s own private investigation of Baird.

Showers’ firm defending a man that it directed an investigation into creates a clear conflict of interest, Gross said.

“The actions of the law firm are comparable to a prosecutor presenting evidence about a defendant to the grand jury and then defending the same defendant,” said Gross.

In its response to the motion, Simms Showers claimed there is no conflict of interest.

“Both parties maintain that the alleged sexual abuse did not occur and their positions are mutually compatible,” the response said.

The defense team wrote that Showers can’t be subpoenaed, citing attorney-client privilege.

Beck ultimately granted the commonwealth’s motion and disqualified Simms Showers from representing Baird. Leesburg defense attorney Todd Sanders has since filled in.

The judge said he will hear the commonwealth’s motion to introduce the testimonies of the three female witnesses, among other motions, on June 28 in circuit court.

Baird’s jury trial was rescheduled for Sept. 6 through Sept. 8.