Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas, USA · 2020

United States: Texas youth group leader convicted of sexual assault and indecency with a congregant, affirmed on appeal

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

youth group leader, Rise Church (f/k/a Center West Baptist Church), Bowie County, Texas

Organization

Rise Church (f/k/a Center West Baptist Church), Texarkana, Texas

Spiritual nexus

Little was a youth group leader at the victim's church; his standing as a trusted adult in that role gave him routine, unsupervised access to her (picking her up from church, massages after church, overnight stays through his daughter's friendship, youth-group camping trips), which he used to commit years of escalating sexual contact and assault.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2020-11-18 · direct appeal

    Court of Appeals, Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana. A Bowie County jury convicted Russell Little of two counts of sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact; twenty years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on each count. The Sixth Court of Appeals held the evidence legally sufficient, found no double-jeopardy violation, and held the remaining points of error unpreserved, AFFIRMING the trial court's judgments in full (Little v. State, No. 06-19-00270-CR).

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • trusted access to a congregant's teenage friend through his church youth-group role
  • use of church-adjacent routines (post-church massages, church pickups, youth-group camping trips) to isolate the victim

Primary record

Sources

court reporting appellate opinion Little v. State, No. 06-19-00270-CR (Tex. App.—Texarkana Nov. 18, 2020, mem. op.). CourtListener opinion id 4636861.

Full memorandum opinion: 'A Bowie County jury convicted Russell Little of two counts of sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact... Little was also a youth group leader at Rise Church, f/k/a Center West Baptist Church. According to Jane, Little was very hands-on with the girls in the youth group... Little would also take her and her friends on camping trips and would often bring Jane to his home after church... We conclude that (1) legally sufficient evidence supports each conviction, (2) there was no double jeopardy violation in this case, and (3) Little has failed to preserve his last three points of error. As a result, we affirm the trial court's judgments.'

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