NEW YORK
New York Newsday
BY HERBERT LOWE
STAFF WRITER
March 29, 2005, 7:45 PM EST
A Pentecostal minister and his wife lashed out at his accusers Tuesday after a Queens jury found him not guilty of having sex with a teenage church member after telling her God wanted him to.
Bishop William Waynes happily left State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens with his wife and supporters, while the alleged victim, her family and other former congregation members lagged behind, disappointed.
"Any pastor that would accept these people as members, beware," said Waynes, 47, pastor of New Beginnings Outreach Love Center in East Elmhurst.
His wife, Eunice Waynes, said "I really feel very bad" for the young woman, now 21, who testified that William Waynes first kissed and fondled her when she was 15 -- and then seduced her into a four-year sexual affair after telling her it would help her become a great evangelist.
"I'm sad that she is a schizophrenic and a pathological liar," said Eunice Waynes.
However, at least two jurors among the panel of 10 women and two men said they believed the woman, even if they could not vote to convict on the charges, third-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
"We knew that he was wrong, but they didn't prove it," Juror No. 2, who would not give her name, said of the prosecution. "It's not that we didn't think he was guilty," said Juror No. 3, who only gave her first name, Ashley. "It's just that there was insufficient evidence."