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	Charges against Church Leader Dismissed in McDonald County By Derek Spellman Joplin Globe June 10, 2008 http://www.joplinglobe.com/neosho_newton_mcdonald%20county/local_story_162211507.html PINEVILLE, Mo. — The McDonald County prosecutor's office has dismissed all charges against Raymond Lambert, a church pastor charged with eight counts of sexual abuse. Charges against Lambert were dropped late Monday because the "incessant publicity" and preparations for the upcoming trial caused the alleged victims to decide "that they can no longer subject themselves or their families to the ongoing scrutiny and pressures of a very public proceeding," according to a statement released Tuesday by the office of Prosecutor Janice Durbin. "In no way does this dismissal reflect the state's opinion about the validity of the charges against the defendant," Durbin said in the statement. Lambert, 53, was accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls who were church members between February 1995 and April 2004 while he was serving as pastor of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church near Powell. Lambert was scheduled to go to trial June 30 on four counts of second-degree child molestation, three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of sexual abuse. Previous problems This is the second time charges have been dismissed against Lambert, and the second time Durbin cited problems getting the alleged victims to cooperate. The first time, an attorney representing the alleged victims disputed Durbin's claim. Lambert was indicted by a McDonald County grand jury in February 2008 on eight counts of sexual abuse; that indictment replaced eight identical charges filed Dec. 3, 2007, by Durbin's office. And those charges replaced charges originally filed in August 2006 by then-Prosecutor Steve Geeding that were dropped by Durbin in November 2007. Charges against Lambert's wife, Patricia Lambert, 50, and his sister-in-law, Laura Epling, age unknown, also were dropped at that time and were never refiled. Lambert was scheduled to go to trial on the original charges in mid-November 2007, when Durbin's office said it had to drop the charges because of problems getting the alleged victims deposed by the defense. Without those depositions, Robert Evenson, a Pineville attorney who was representing the Lamberts and Epling, filed a motion to dismiss the case. Erin Willis, a Pineville attorney representing one of the alleged victims, panned Durbin's decision to drop the remaining charges against the Lamberts and Epling in 2007. Willis said the alleged victims were not given proper notice of deposition dates and times, and that Durbin allegedly violated the alleged victims' rights under state law by not informing them in advance of her intention to drop the charges. Willis could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Durbin on Tuesday reiterated previous statements that the decision to drop the charges last year stemmed from a technical issue. She said Evenson's pending motion to dismiss the charges barred her from getting a continuance for the case and left her no choice but to drop the charges in November. Contact: dspellman@joplinglobe.com
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