BishopAccountability.org
	Mother: Minister Got off Lightly By Susan Daker Press-Register November 7, 2007 http://blog.al.com/live/2007/11/mother_minister_got_off_lightl.html News that a former Mobile minister was charged late last week with molesting boys in Florida has opened old wounds for the mother of a boy he allegedly abused here. Theresa Harrison of Mobile said that too little was done to prosecute or punish Marshal Seymour. In 1998, her 15-year-old son told her husband that Seymour had molested him. Her son had met Seymour, a youth minister, at Parkway Assembly of God church on Dauphin Island Parkway. "We were devastated," she said. But the local judicial system treated her family "like trailer trash," she said. "They thought we were stupid, dumb, trailer project trash." Seymour was arrested July 1, 1999, in Mobile on charges of second-degree sodomy and second-degree sexual abuse. The sodomy charge was eventually dropped, Alabama court records show. Seymour was allowed to plead guilty in October 1999 to third-degree assault in lieu of the second-degree sexual abuse charge. A prosecutor with the Mobile County District Attorney's Office defended the decision to cut a deal in the case, saying certain factors would have made it difficult to persuade a jury to return a guilty verdict. Harrison said that in her opinion Seymour "just got a slap on the wrist." At some point in 1999, Seymour relocated to Lakeland, Fla., and began volunteering at the First Baptist Church at the Mall, according to police in that city. Now, Seymour, 40, is accused of sexually molesting boys he met through that church. He faces charges of using a child in sexual performance, unlawful sexual activity with a minor and tampering with evidence, police said. Mobile County Assistant District Attorney George Hardesty, who prosecuted Seymour on the local charges, said that several factors contributed to his willingness to strike a plea bargain. He said he believed it would have been difficult to win a sexual abuse conviction because the boy had grown up and would have been 17 or older by the time the case had gone to trial. Also, he said, there usually is no physical evidence or other witnesses in these types of cases. Records show that Circuit Court Judge Herman Thomas sentenced Seymour to a year of probation, suspending a one-year jail sentence. Afterward, Theresa Harrison sued Parkway Assembly of God on behalf of her son. The church's insurance company settled out of court, and Harrison said she received a cash settlement, the amount of which she is prohibited from disclosing. Eaton Barnard, the lawyer who represented the family in the lawsuit, said that one reason why he supported the settlement was that boy grew up between the time of the alleged molestation and time of the civil trial. "He was tall for his age," Barnard said. His size would have made it difficult to convince a jury that he couldn't have fought Seymour, Barnard said. Barnard also declined to reveal the settlement amount, but said he and his clients were pleased with it. Harrison said her son was a humble, sweet child, and that family difficulties at the time may have made him more susceptible to Seymour's attention. She said her son is living on the East Coast and doesn't want to talk with the media. But, she said, he plans to go to Florida if Seymour's case makes it to trial there. "He would love to stand up in Marshal's face," she said.
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