May 25, 2005

Former pastor gets 10 years of probation

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
Express-News

Web Posted: 05/25/2005 12:00 AM CDT

Rhea Davis
Express-News Staff Writer

A former West Side pastor was sentenced to 10 years of probation Tuesday for having sex with an underage choirgirl more than a dozen years ago.

Duane Hammons, 47, was found guilty Friday of four charges of sexual assault of a child and two charges of indecency with a child by contact.

The jury found him not guilty of two counts of indecency with a child by contact. He faced 20 years in prison.

Hammons, a former pastor of the Church of God in Christ, was convicted of having sex with Nailah Coggins while she was a freshman and sophomore at Holmes High School. Coggins, now 27, testified the sexual abuse began in 1992 when she was 15.

The San Antonio Express-News generally does not reveal the identity of sex crime victims; however, Coggins said she didn't mind being identified by name.

"It wasn't exactly what I wanted," Coggins said of the sentence, after leaving the courtroom.

Posted by kshaw at May 25, 2005 07:33 AM