Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Carroll County, Arkansas, USA · 2020

Arkansas: church elder and Sunday-school superintendent's civil liability for abusing a 13-year-old parishioner affirmed on appeal

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

church elder and Sunday-school superintendent

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

Smith was MC1's church elder and the Sunday-school superintendent; the appellate opinion expressly frames the relationship as 'he was a church elder, and she was a parishioner' in finding sexual contact by a person in a position of trust to be actionable. MC1's father brought suit on her behalf as next friend but is not the perpetrator.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2020-02-27 · criminal guilty plea

    Carroll County Circuit Court, Arkansas. Lester Smith, a 74-year-old church elder and Sunday-school superintendent, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of MC1, a 13-year-old parishioner at his church.

  2. 2026-01-28 · civil appeal, No. CV-24-131

    Arkansas Court of Appeals. Affirmed on direct appeal. The court held Smith's undisputed admission that he had sexual contact with MC1 when she was 13, and his status as her church elder with her as a parishioner, supported summary judgment on liability; the jury had awarded MC1 $100,000 in compensatory and $1 million in punitive damages. Reversed and remanded only on the separate cross-appeal issue of attorney fees.

Appellate history

  1. Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the liability judgment on January 28, 2026; only the unrelated attorney-fee cross-appeal issue was reversed and remanded.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • position as church elder and Sunday-school superintendent over a 13-year-old parishioner

Primary record

Sources

official court judgment civil appellate judgment Smith v. Eastwood, 2026 Ark. App. 48 (Jan. 28, 2026).

Arkansas Court of Appeals opinion affirming liability judgment against church elder Lester Smith for sexual abuse of parishioner MC1, based on his guilty plea to second-degree sexual assault and his position of trust as church elder and Sunday-school superintendent.

Related record

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