ALABAMA
AL.com

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
on October 25, 2012

BIRMINGHAM — A Jefferson County jury today awarded a $1 million judgment against a former youth minister at Word of Life Christian Center who was accused of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl in the congregation.

William David Webb pleaded guilty in 2009 of transporting a minor girl across state lines for sex. Webb, 39, is serving a five-year sentence at a federal prison in Forrest City, Ark.

The victim in that case, Barbara Elizabeth Echols, now 24 and married, filed a lawsuit in 2009, alleging seduction of a minor, assault and battery. The jury today returned a verdict in Jefferson County Circuit Court for $500,000 in compensatory and $500,000 in punitive damages, said Echols’ attorney, Johnny Brunson.

“They found that she was 15 when he initiated contact,” Brunson said. “She testified that he sexually assaulted and…