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	Jury Quickly Rejects Suit against Ex-Minister By William C. Lhotka St. Louis Post-Dispatch October 24, 2007 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/A9EE7BCA7807E5C78625737E0013A1FD?OpenDocument ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Jurors who heard a teenager's allegations of abuse deliberated just 45 minutes before unanimously returning a verdict in favor of the former Lutheran minister she had accused and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The decision late Monday rejected a civil claim for damages against the former minister, Chris Watson. The teen said he emotionally and sexually abused her in the fall of 2004, when she was 15 and he was associate pastor at the Church of the Resurrection. In the six-day trial, defense attorney Thomas Magee compared the accusations against Watson, 38, to the Salem witch hunts. Through the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Ken Chackes, an attorney for the teenage accuser, publicly revealed Tuesday that Resurrection had settled with his client for $50,000 before the trial began. The girl had alleged in the suit that both Resurrection, a congregation of 1,500 members at 9907 Sappington Road, and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod had failed to properly supervise Watson. Watson, the church and the synod all denied any wrongdoing. The Rev. Michael Bronner, the pastor of Resurrection, said Tuesday, "The settlement itself says there is no admission (of responsibility) whatsoever." The teen, now a college freshman, testified that Watson manipulated her emotionally, turned her against her parents and planted thoughts of suicide. Susan Carlson, another attorney for her, claimed Watson had hugged the girl for his own arousal. But Watson testified that he hugged everyone at Sunday services, "including older men. It was a greeting, to say hello, to say welcome, glad you are here." He described himself as "a listening ear" to the teen, who had stopped by every day to talk "about general life issues, school, grades, band." He insisted that he did not manipulate her or try to turn her against her parents. Watson resigned from the ministry in late 2005, as the synod requires when ministers get a divorce. He has remarried and works for the U.S. Postal Service. Michael Ward, an attorney for the synod, told the jury there was little evidence of any wrongdoing — and that in any event the church hierarchy was not liable because it leaves supervision of its ministers to individual congregations. Contact: blhotka@post-dispatch.com | 314-615-3283
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