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	Former Pella Pastor Accused of Sex Abuse to Face Trial Next Year in Dallas County By Jeff Eckhoff Des Moines Register September 13, 2011 http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/09/13/former-pella-pastor-accused-of-sex-abuse-to-face-trial-next-year-in-dallas-county/ A former Pella pastor accused of raping three adult female members of his congregation is now scheduled for a January trial in Dallas County. District Judge Paul Huscher ordered a change of venue in the case after a defense lawyer for former pastor Patrick Edouard argued in paperwork that extensive media coverage and Marion county’s close ties to its churches had already combined to bias potential jurors against Edouard, 41. Edouard, a former pastor at Pella’s Covenant Reformed Church, left his job in December after church leaders confronted him with allegations of sexual infidelity. In March, authorities filed seven charges in Marion County District Court alleging that Edouard raped three women and had sexual contact with a fourth. He’s charged with sexual abuse and violating an Iowa law that makes it a crime for counselors or therapists to sexually exploit clients in their professional care. Defense Angela Campbell argued in court papers last month that Marion County’s deep ties to the Dutch Reform church makes the community particularly sensitive to allegations of sex crimes involving a pastor. Court documents cite the fact that nearly one-quarter of Marion County residents identify themselves as Dutch Reform and that Edouard’s sermons routinely were broadcast on a local radio station and streamed live on the Internet. “With such a strong connection between the community and the church and the community’s commitment towards the church, any neutrality or fairness ceases to exist,” court filings contend. The motion for a change of venue also attacks “extensive” and “prejudicial” coverage of Edouard’s case, including a WHO-TV 13 story “using an anonymous source who made incredible and unsubstantiated allegations concerning Mr. Edouard and this case.” “When local media have filled the minds of potential jurors with one-sided reporting, one can hardly conclude that their beliefs would not be one-sided as well,” the motion argues. Court paper say Laura Roan, an assistant Iowa Attorney General who is prosecuting the case, did not object to moving the trial, which is now scheduled to begin on Jan. 17. Edouard, a native Haitian who went to high school in New York and moved to Pella from Toronto, reportedly moved to Michigan with his wife and four daughters in March.
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