TEXAS
Midland Reporter Telegram
Bob Campbell
Midland Reporter Telegram
07/16/2005
An eight-man, four-woman jury late Friday afternoon found a 48-year-old Missouri minister guilty of all four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in the 1989-92 sexual abuse of his then 9 to 12-year-old step-daughter.
The jurors deliberated 2 1/2 hours to reach their verdicts and reconvened at 8 p.m. to consider punishment for the Rev. Eddie Wells of Matthews, Mo. After hearing another round of attorneys' arguments, they considered the case for another 50 minutes and sentenced him to 50 years on each count.
Judge Jody Gilles set sentencing for 4 p.m. Wednesday, at which time he could either make the sentences concurrent or "stake them in some way."
Ascertaining that the panel's guilty verdict was unanimous, Gilles at 6:30 p.m. slowly intoned each count, which alleged various sex acts committed on the girl while Wells and his second wife and family lived in Midland, and concluded, "guilty."