LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune
By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on November 17, 2015
An Orleans Parish jury deadlocked Tuesday (Nov. 17) on whether the pastor of an eastern New Orleans church molested a young boy who was a member of his congregation more than a decade ago.
Kevin Boyd Sr., the 46-year-old “presiding bishop” of The Church At New Orleans, faced a prison sentence of five to 10 years if convicted as charged of molestation of a juvenile. Boyd is accused of sexually assaulting the child over a span of at least five years, starting in 1999 when the boy was about 12.
The jury of three women and three men announced it was deadlocked after four hours of deliberations. The jury had the option to convict or acquit Boyd with responsive verdicts of lesser charges, including attempted molestation. But the six-member panel was unable to concur on any verdict.
“The jurors listened to the evidence. Each and every one of them is entitled to their individual decision,” said Boyd’s defense attorney Kerry Cuccia. “These jurors had given a tremendous amount of thought and effort into the case, and they simply disagreed on what the proper result should be. And rather than it resorting to something it should not be, they respected each other’s positions and said they could not reach a unanimous verdict.”
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