Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Police beat Former Baptist minister to be paroled on sex crime
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 9:58 AM
David Koon wrote a cover story for us about this case. He victimized scores of boys over a couple of decades at the First Baptist Church of Benton. There was an outpouring of support for him when he was arrested and many asked for leniency on account of his age, health, dangers to child molesters in prison and his good works.
He received a 10-year sentence in August 2009. He won't be released until arrangements are made for him to be accepted as a parolee in another state. Another stipulation today by the parole board was that, should he ever return to Arkansas, he cannot live within 50 miles of Saline County.
Comments (16)
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I don't have any sympathy for him, not a bit. Ummm, just what state will accept a molester and does Arkansas have to pay their costs?
How do we, as a country, go about the difficult but necessary work of decreasing people's trust in religious leaders?
Don't know why this is all so sad. I should be angry, light a torch and join the villagers' wrath. But it's just so sad.
Sad for Mr. Pierce, the boys, the church, the families, the community, law enforcement, Benton, those who read about it, society -- everybody this touches.
56 years old. What's left? What can possibly be ahead in his life? What can he think of himself?
Sad.
I detest waves of compassion this early in the morning.
Heights, I think more important work would be understanding what causes child molesters in the first place. Only then can we break the cycle of the abused growing up to be abusers.
Norma, I wrote about seeing "Hair" at the Aquarius Theater on Sunset Blvd. in the Republican Fight Against Birth Control thread, and wondered if it was still there. I can't remember any shows playing there in my last several years in L.A.
He could be sent over here to western Arkansas. That's at least 50 miles from Saline County. We got us 'uns some folks back in these hills who would appreciate him learning about "Deliverance" first hand.
First and foremost, if someone can't stay in Arkansas and can't come to a county, doesn't that suggest that they're still dangerous and ought not be paroled? If you're parole quality, then you're safe for the public. If there are huge places you can't go, doesn't that mean perhaps you're not safe to be around? I don't think it was specifically Saline County children he was sexually attracted to, it was children in general. Did you not learn from mistakes in the past state parole board? Wayne Dumond found Missouri women just as appealing as he did the women in Arkansas.
He got a MANDATORY parole. There was nothing the parole board could do to stop his release.
That's insane.
Outlier -
No, no. Long gone. The theatre's still physically there and the historic society's trying to protect it.
It's gone through many changes since Earl Carroll built and opened it in the late 30s. "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world."
Alas, I was not among them as I was still in negotiations with the Producer re: my debut. I finally won my terms but it took what seemed forever.
Still, in eternity, forever's but a day.
The proposed title for my coffee-table book of my collected ouevre assuming it ever gets through legal.
"He got a MANDATORY parole. There was nothing the parole board could do to stop his release.
That's insane."
Amen! He should get the same treatment as some poor white trash nobody or poor minority...which would be much different than the treatment he's getting now.
And thank god the prison folks see child-crimes for the heinous acts they are 'cause our system generally treats bank robbers, marijuana users, tax-cheats, blah blah worse. (Yes, I know that's harsh...but I don't give a damn; there is NOTHING worse than crimes against children and I wish our justice system acted accordingly.) My twisted explanation is that there are too many closet rapists/folks who lust for children within the system who have sympathy for their brethren and who hope they'll get lenient treatment if their crap oozes out of their closet.
Can't live within 50 miles of Saline County? Is that legal?
That said, I would buy extra lottery tickets on occasion if that stipulation was part of the prize.
it is infuriating to me that child rapists, molesters, those who commit sexual assaults against women, batterers, and stalkers CONTINUALLY get their wrists slapped by our legal system. 10 years, but served less than 3?! How is that justice? I don't give a damn how old he is.....when will our country believe that crimes against women and children deserve fair and equal treatment by law enforcement and the judicial system? WHEN?!
Why the outpouring of support when he was arrested? Was there an outpouring of support for the victims or the victim's families? Who were these supporters and what were they thinking? His age? HIS health? Dangers to child molesters in prison? And, how could his "good works" possibly outweigh what he did to the kids that may affect them the rest of their lives? This guy doesn't deserve any breaks at all. None!
The outpouring of support was due to his position at First Baptist Church in Benton.
I agree. If this had been a poor white man, or a black man at any status, he would be serving life without parole. This creature ( I will NOT call him a man) needs to spend a few decades in prison. They LOVE child molesters there.
Why is the child predator being let out of jail so soon.?... this is a very scary situation for kids..
Hopefully anyone who has been harmed by David Pierce, will come forward, speak up and contact police.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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