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	No verdict yet in Passmore sex abuse case By Scott McMillion Bozeman Daily Chronicle December 4, 2007 http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/12/04/news/25verdict.txt LIVINGSTON - After nearly 10 hours of deliberations, a jury failed to reach a verdict on any of the eight felony sex charges against former Church of God pastor Terrance Passmore and was sent home for the night just before 11 p.m. Monday. "You put in a brutally long day," presiding judge E. Wayne Phillips told the eight women and four men on the jury. They had begun their work at 9 a.m., listening to jury instructions and closing arguments that lasted until 1 p.m. Passmore, 49, is facing six counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape for allegedly fondling three former female parishioners in 1998. The girls were between 12 and 14 years old at the time of the alleged assaults. The jury is charged with arriving at a verdict on each of the eight counts. In their closing statements, Assistant Attorney General Carlo Canty and defense lawyer Chuck Watson both said that the case boils down to credibility and jurors must decide who to believe. Canty urged the jurors to believe the alleged victims, who testified that Passmore had fondled them in the church, the parsonage and at swimming outings. "If you believe these young women are telling the truth, you can convict the defendant on that alone," Canty said. He maintained that Passmore was "grooming" the girls for further sexual assaults and that they had nothing to gain by lying about the incidents. Watson, on the other hand, lambasted the Park County Attorney's office, police officers who did or didn't investigate the case, and the lawyer in the civil suit the young women filed against Passmore and the church. He described the state's case as a mess from start to finish. "This was not a conspiracy," he said. "To call this a conspiracy would be a compliment." The alleged crimes were not reported to law enforcement until 2002, four years after they occurred. At that time, a Livingston Police Department detective didn't file charges, though she kept a file open. The Park County Sheriff's office filed charges after the civil suit was filed. "I don't think it's beyond belief that people would make things up for money," Watson said. "Why people do bizarre things for attention and money I can't tell you." The civil suit was settled, with an undisclosed payment by the church. But the complaint against Passmore was dismissed. He testified earlier that he had wanted to go to trial to clear his name. Watson used the words "bizarre," "concocted," and "preposterous" to describe the state's case. "There's not one allegation in this entire case that's supported by anybody else's eye witness," he said. That's because Passmore was careful to keep the alleged offenses hidden, Canty countered. "It's just common sense," he said. "These crimes were committed in secret." Phillips ordered the jury to reconvene at 8:30 a.m. today. Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com
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