VENTURA : Judge Declares Error in Molestation Trial

A former Ventura minister convicted of child molestation must be released from prison or retried because of an error made during his trial three years ago, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi ordered Robert E. Henry released from prison by July 20 unless a second trial is under way by that time.

Takasugi ruled on May 20 that the prosecution should not have introduced testimony that Henry was suspected of molesting a child in Pomona 20 years ago. The testimony, from the child’s father, was presented after the defense rested its case, magnifying the jury’s prejudice, Takasugi said.

The unproven allegation that Henry “had molested a child 20 years previously,” Takasugi wrote in his finding, “and the resulting unavoidable inference that he had continued in his position of trust to gain opportunity to continue such acts, compounded the emotionally charged atmosphere present in any child-abuse prosecution and could not be overlooked by the jury.”

Henry, former rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and dean of St. Paul’s Day School in Ventura, resigned from the priesthood before he went to trial, said his attorney, George C. Eskin.

Henry was convicted of one count of child molestation and sentenced to six years in prison in San Luis Obispo. He will be eligible for parole in December.

“I have a strong personal feeling about this,” Eskin said. “I had argued both at the trial and at the motion for a new trial this was wrong, so highly prejudicial. I felt very strongly that the testimony of the father should not have been presented.”

Ventura County Special Assistant Dist. Atty. Donald D. Coleman, who prosecuted Henry in 1988, said no decision has been made about a second trial because the state attorney general has appealed the federal judge’s ruling.

“We’re waiting to see what the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals does,” Coleman said.