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	Last Molestation Charges against Ex-Youth Minister Dismissed By Terry Vau Dell Mercury-Register May 31, 2007 http://www.orovillemr.com/news/chico/ci_6025969 Oroville -- A ruling Wednesday dismissing sexual abuse charges against a former Chico youth minister will allow a long-delayed "healing and reconciliation process" to resume, according to his lawyer. The same judge had previously ruled the bulk of the charges against Richard James Manley, 42, were barred by the three-year statute of limitations. Prosecutors attempted to re-file three of the criminal counts against the former church official under a slightly different Penal Code section, which would have allowed up to 10 years to prosecute those alleged offenses. But Superior Court Judge Steven Howell Wednesday upheld Manley's latest legal challenge and ordered the case dismissed once and for all. Manley's attorney, Dennis Hoptowit, acknowledged some may view the former youth minister as getting off on a legal technicality. "The Constitution is not a technicality; it is there to protect all of us from improper prosecutions," observed Hoptowit. Manley had resigned from his position as a youth church minister at Pleasant Valley Assembly of God in Chico, before being charged in the spring of 2005 with lewd conduct involving four boys ages 14 and 15 between 1993 and 1999. The defense contended that at most the allegations amounted to inappropriate touching. The prosecution disputed that. Manley's lawyer had challenged as unconstitutional attempts to prosecute the molestation charges beyond the normal three-year period under a state law enacted after the alleged crimes were committed. Three of the five felony counts were dismissed late last year on statute-of-limitations grounds. The remaining two charges were thrown out several months later because of evidence indicating the victim in question was likely 16 or older when the alleged molestations occurred. Refiling the three counts involving the younger boys, deputy district attorney Kelly Maloy argued in court Wednesday the state Legislature this year had amended the law to allow up to 10 years to prosecute all crimes that required the offender to register as a convicted sex offender. She said the change in the law came about because, as in Manley's case, many child sex victims are too embarrassed or afraid to disclose the abuse until years later. But Hoptowit countered the Legislature, in effect, had created a new law, not merely expanded an existing one, and that it could not legally be applied retroactively against Manley. In dismissing the criminal charges a second and final time, Howell said his original views in the two-year-old case had not changed. Manley walked out of court with a handful of supporters, deferring comment to his lawyer. No longer "officially connected to any church," Manley is now running a private business, according to Hoptowit. He said the ex-church youth minister wants to resume a reconciliation process with the victims and their families that had been interrupted by the filing of the criminal charges. "There had been a sincere effort by Mr. Manley and by many people in the Chico church community to reach out and provide healing for everyone who was affected by this — the victims, their families and other members of the church," said Hoptowit. "I believe that reconciliation and restoration is possible and is still the goal for everyone involved," added Hoptowit. Ed Szendrey, a retired district attorney investigator and local church member, said that by supporting Manley, he is not ignoring his past conduct. "As Christians, we must recognize sin and repent before we can re-establish a relationship with God."
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