VIRGINIA
Roanoke Times
By Laurence Hammack laurence.hammack@roanoke.com 981-3239
LEXINGTON — A former pastor charged with molesting a teenage boy from his church is asking that his upcoming trial be moved from Rockbridge County.
Larry McKinley Clark’s attorney argued Tuesday that extensive publicity about the case would make it all but impossible to seat an impartial jury. Complicating the problem for Clark, attorney Dirk Padgett said, that news media coverage includes that of an earlier trial in which Clark was convicted of sexually abusing a second young parishioner.
“I do think it raises it to a different level if [potential jurors] are aware of a conviction,” Padgett argued during a hearing in Rockbridge County Circuit Court.
Judge Michael Irvine took the motion for a change of venue under advisement, saying he will first try to seat a jury in Lexington as the law requires. Irvine also agreed to postpone Clark’s trial, which had been set for next week, until Sept. 14.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.