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	Former Minister to Serve 11 Years in Prison By Shawna Morrison Roanoke Times January 9, 2009 http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/190478 RADFORD -- A former minister will spend 11 years in prison for the sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl, a judge ruled Thursday. In June, a jury found Hawthorne Reed Jr., 63, guilty of two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Jurors recommended the 11-year sentence, which Circuit Court Judge Joey Showalter upheld after a hearing Thursday. During the hour-long proceeding, Reed's attorney, Everett Shockley, told the judge that juries can make mistakes. "They weren't there, they don't know" what happened at Reed's Radford home in the summer of 2000, he said. He said juries do the best they can on the information they have, "but that doesn't mean wrong decisions can't be made." "I think there's a nagging doubt whether this man is truly guilty or not guilty," Shockley said. He noted that Reed has maintained his innocence, claiming he never inappropriately touched the girl. Reed turned down a plea agreement, saying he wouldn't plead guilty to something he hadn't done, Shockley said. At a hearing in October, Shockley asked that Reed's guilty verdict be set aside. He argued that the victim's testimony was uncorroborated and inconsistent and that a videotape of police interrogating Reed allowed the prosecution to present the jury with opinions and assertions that wouldn't have been allowed if those officers were testifying in court. Showalter on Thursday overruled that motion. The girl, who was 16 when she testified in June, described how Reed kissed her and performed oral sex on her two days in a row when she was 8. She came forward about the incidents six years later. The Roanoke Times is not naming the girl because of the nature of the case. She does not live in Virginia. The girl and her family were not in the courtroom Thursday. Radford Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak called one witness, a probation officer who had prepared sentencing recommendations based on Reed's criminal history. Because Reed has a conviction for shooting in an occupied dwelling in the 1960s, the state's sentencing guidelines called for him to serve 11 to 24 years in prison, the probation officer said. Shockley asked the judge to give Reed a suspended sentence and allow him to serve time on house arrest. Shockley noted that several people were in the courtroom to support Reed and had shown up for all of his hearings. He called three of them as witnesses: a friend of Reed's who is also a pastor; a member of First Baptist Church in Dublin, where Reed served as pastor; and Reed's wife. Reed put his hands over his face and sobbed as his wife, Esther Reed, spoke. She said her husband's conviction and incarceration in the New River Valley Regional Jail has been difficult for her. She said she doesn't believe her husband molested the girl. "I don't believe it to be true," Esther Reed told the court. "In fact I know it's not true." Shockley told the judge he didn't think anything would be accomplished by sending Hawthorne Reed to prison. In pushing for the 11-year sentence to be imposed, Rehak noted that 12 jurors listened to a full day's worth of testimony before finding Reed guilty, and they had been instructed to assess the credibility of each witness. Rehak said sending Reed to prison would send a message that anyone who molests a child will be caught, charged and tried.
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