FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By MARTHA DELLER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH -- He's barely 13 and slightly built, but on the witness stand Wednesday, he mesmerized a Tarrant County courtroom with his account of how his grandfather, former Baptist preacher Larry Nuell Neathery, sexually assaulted him for years.
Neathery, 56, is on trial on charges involving five boys, including three of his grandsons. The verdict may hinge on whether jurors believe his young accusers or his attorneys' contentions that the boys have falsely accused the former pastor of Westside Victory Baptist Church.
Neathery's grandson acknowledged that he didn't want to talk about the sex acts that the man he called "Pops" forced him to participate in "too many times" to count, starting when he was 5 or 6.
Led by prosecutor Mitch Poe, he quietly detailed for more than three hours how Neathery initially fondled him outside his clothing. Sometimes the abuse occurred in Neathery's locked church office, he said. Other times, it took place in his grandfather's River Oaks home.