Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Georgia, USA · 2019

United States: minister convicted of molesting two young girls from congregant families at his church

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Minister

Organization

Unnamed church congregation, Georgia

Spiritual nexus

Pinkston was minister of the church the victims' families attended; the abuse of both girls occurred at the church itself, including while one victim, aged four to six, sat on his lap as her congregation's minister.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

Date in cited record · trial

Superior Court, Georgia. Jury convicted John Aubrey Pinkston on two counts of child molestation. Pinkston, a minister, repeatedly molested two young girls, ages four to six, whose families attended his church, on church premises.
2019-09-23 · appellate

Court of Appeals of Georgia. Convictions affirmed. The court rejected Pinkston's challenges to the admission of his statements to police, the denial of a jury charge on accident, and an ineffective-assistance claim.

Appellate history

2019-09-23

Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions.

Documented coercion mechanisms

clerical status and physical access within the church building used to isolate young congregants (e.g., holding a child on his lap)

Primary record

Sources

court opinion appellate opinion Pinkston v. State, No. A19A1390 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 23, 2019).: Full appellate opinion describing Pinkston's role as minister of the victims' family church, the on-premises abuse of both children, and the affirmance of his convictions.

Related record

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