Saturday, March 12, 2011

Life is a gamble. Right pastor Jason Phillips?

We all know this. You can die in a horrible bus accident, or your can die in prison after serving a long sentence for a crime you did not commit. We sometimes get a chance to choose our fate, some choose wisely, while others do not. You roll the dice, you takes your chances.
JasonPhillipsA Canton youth pastor will go to trial rather than accept a plea agreement on a charge alleging he sexually assaulted an underage girl last spring, his attorney said Friday. 
That means Jason Phillips faces a prison term of as long as 15 years if he is found guilty of criminal sexual assault in the trial set for April 18.
Phillips, 36, had been expected to enter a guilty plea Friday in an agreement that his attorney, Kevin Sullivan of Peoria, had negotiated with Fulton County prosecutors. He was prepared to do so in December, but the agreement that included a sentence was rejected by a judge, who then was required by law to recuse himself.
Here we have a pastor who tried to reach a plea agreement but fell short, most likely do to inadequate sentence. Apparently the judge wanted him to serve some real time. What I don’t understand is why he tried a plea agreement at all. Back in June of 2010 he was cock sure that the allegations were false, .
"I'm very saddened by the false accusations," said Phillips, 36, who faces one felony count of criminal sexual assault in Fulton County Court. "These are false charges."
His pastor was sure too.
The Rev. Kevin Van Tine, the church's founder and senior pastor, also spoke Thursday about the incident.
"We're saddened by the recent development," Van Tine said. "We believe these to be false accusations."
His church, the Community Fellowship Church in Canton still believes in Pastor Jason Phillips. He’s still listed on their website.
Pastor Jason Phillips was born and raised in Canton and is a 1993 Canton High School graduate. After a radical transformation by the power of Jesus Christ, Pastor Jason felt the call into the ministry and continued his education at Christian Life School of Theology. In 1996, he began working part-time at CCFC. After witnessing his dedication, commitment and ability to minister effectively, the Board of Elders, along with Senior Pastor Kevin Van Tine, asked him to join the staff in full-time ministry in 1997. Ordained in 1998, Pastor Jason serves as associate pastor.
Pastor Jason and his wife Ashley have been married 10 years and have two children: Camri, 4; and Micah, 2. Ashley presently is attending Methodist School of Nursing, working toward earning her bachelor of nursing degree.
And pastor Jason is blogging his sad story too. He’s cast himself as the victim, as a Christian who is being persecuted by the forces of Hell (that would be the DA btw).
As most of you know, I'm in a battle for my life.  Jesus didn't promise us a "rose garden" tour of life, but said that we would be persecuted from every side as we follow Him. As we face trials and tribulations or even a challenge, we tend to ask ourselves, "What am I going to do?"
But what of the victim? What of her family? Somebody lost the political battle. I’m betting it was a 15-year-old girl

Good luck when you roll the dice Pastor Jason – you will need it.Ask for the top bunk in prison.

Update 4/25/2011: Jason Phillips was convicted.

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deleted8470268 143p · 736 weeks ago

Every time I read something like this I wonder how so many stupid people can be so blind ?
1 reply · active 736 weeks ago
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Mojoey 107p · 736 weeks ago

The answer is lots and lots...
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Gary's avatar

Gary · 730 weeks ago

GEE maybe someone should get all the facts before they pass their own judgement on some-one else! Did you set thru the court hearing and hear all the evidence most of the elderly people who where jurer's didn't either some fell asleep!!!! LITTERLY!!!! Girl that accused got caught lying several times in court DETECTIVE BEHIND CLOSE DOORS TOLD JUDGE ATTY.S IF HE HAD TO TAKE STAND COUNTY HAD TO PAY FOR ATTY. FOR HIM!!!!!! MAYBE SOME LYING ON HIS BEHALF!!!!!!!! BETTER GET ALL THE STORY!!!!!!!!!
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Mojoey 107p · 730 weeks ago

I did. He's guilty.
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Burt Clarke · 722 weeks ago

Why would he accept a plea agreement - even though he knows the charges to be falso? Well, duh! He has no faith in the criminal justice system. And I suppose you do. Right!
6 replies · active 521 weeks ago
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Mojoey 107p · 722 weeks ago

He took the plea. Case closed. It's like pointing to the score board after a losing game and saying we were robbed. The refs had it in for us. Your support for this criminal is pathetic.
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Annonymous 2's avatar

Annonymous 2 · 722 weeks ago

He didn't "try to make a plea agreement". The prosecutor offered it to him. And he was going to accept it only because he has a wife and two children to raise. When he got to the court room to take the plea, the judge turned it down because Jason had been saying he was innocent the whole time.
Let me put it this way, if you were wrongly accused of this, and you had children to raise, what would you do?
Your argument if pathetic. A score board has nothing to do with this, and we're not stupid, we know what you think happened, you don't have to draw a picture. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
Jason Phillips is one of the strongest people I know, and I'll support him no matter what. If only you knew who you were talking about. The "Jason" that you know is nothing more than what the media (and people like the person who wrote this article) portrays him to be.
I am hopeful that his case will be turned around, but how much evidence is needed for that when there was no evidence for a conviction? Ha. Logic and reason. Like I said, if only Fulton County knew what that is.
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Mojoey 107p · 721 weeks ago

I almost never trust a pastor in situations like this. with a thousand cases behind me, it is exceeding rare to find an innocent man in the mix. I am willing to entertain the notion. The are things we can do to bring the facts of this case to light. The case is in the public record. We can post the facts (with name redacted), so that others can see the picture that you say is obscured by corruption. We need a copy of the trail transcript and a copy of the police report. I publish the facts here for all to see. If Phillips was convicted on hearsay, we can then ask the question that will logically follow. Why was a man convicted without evidence?

I know a man who was convicted of the same charge. He was forced to take a plea to save his family. There was nothing I could do to help him beside offer my support. The man is innocent.

If Philips is innocent I am willing to do my part to bring it to the attention of the world. I get 30 to 60K people a month through my blog and everything I write gets indexed to near the front page. We could make a difference. I need to see the evidence myself. Are you willing?
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Someone's avatar

Someone · 712 weeks ago

They OFFERED the plea that he initially refused until someone talked him into it, and I might also point out that it was JASON's attourney that filed a motion for trial by jury before that. Read the last paragraph in the article:
http://centralillinoisproud.com/fulltext?nxd_id=1...
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Road Runner's avatar

Road Runner · 522 weeks ago

Burt, we have known each other for a long time. just read your comment here and want to say one thing and will say no more. Why are his wife filling for a divorce if nothing happen?
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Unique Perspective's avatar

Unique Perspective · 521 weeks ago

Road Runner, divorces happen for all sorts of reasons besides infidelity. The stress of incarceration for over 3 years alone will strain most marriages.
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Annonymous's avatar

Annonymous · 722 weeks ago

He did not take the plea. Sorry to correct you but he was convicted by a jury. If he had taken the plea then he would not have been tried. I know him and his family personally and I want to state that I am remaining annonymous (not because I am not proud to know him but becuase I am also going through trials in the same court system against my ex-husband for continued harassment and abuse).
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Hermes's avatar

Hermes · 721 weeks ago

Let's call myself "Hermes" just so I wont be confused with those others who use circular logic or try to justify what happened with religion and non sense. (I won't be making an account and I wish to only post this one message to be honest.)

You should look up the so called "victims" criminal record/history. Do you know the medications she's currently on? How about the history of violence and mental illness she's had in the past? Did you know she's already accused three other men of rape? Haha I know her personally, God she's loving the attention, it's actually very sad. But hey who would ever want to admit to something like that?. Btw it's funny how things turn out in these situations, Canton's such a small town really, it's the most attention we've seen in years....but hey I'm sure I'm just one of the ignorant ones right? Surely I must have some reason for posting this...some vendetta against the girl...maybe I go to the church...hey let's just pretend I'm a Christian to start with lol....but in all seriousness I'd just like to let someone see the umm...girl they're trying to protect before they crudely draw a hero symbol in crayon on their chest and ruin a man's life. (Haha don't get me wrong, it's impossible to come back from this one anyways) Anyways, do me a favor and do a TRUE background check. ( It'll be endlessly amusing.)

Hermes
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Just me's avatar

Just me · 718 weeks ago

A similar question could be asked about why a plea bargain was offered? Did prosecution not believe they had enough evidence.

No, I think most people don't understand that the purpose of a plea bargain is simply to avoid trial. It's costly, time consuming, and in sex cases, embarrassing for both sides. I helped my wife put a man in jail for worse than this, and the detective told us plenty about plea bargains. It's also funny how in that case, it cause a few others to come forward and tell that the same thing had happened to them... including his own daughter. However, when they tried to do the same for Jason to ruin credibility, they came up empty-handed.

And how many of you are aware that the girl let her tongue slip to a number of people that these incidents didn't happen. One of those were brought up at trial, and her friends covered her back. The others came forward after the trial, unfortunately, so they will probably be telling their story during appeal (if one is granted).
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Alex's avatar

Alex · 717 weeks ago

Hello! I would just like to say i know Jason personally as well and these charges are just crazy. I know some people are not what they seem and you need to take the "victims" opinoin into account but, Jason is a full out wholesome guy. The fact this trial is even going on sickens me. I knew Jason all while growing up and there were never any problems with situations such as these. I personally belive he is innocent. Knowing him and growing up as him being in the same church , there were never any problems. In most situations like this, there is more than one victim and after a few one comes out strong to protest. So why would this happen only once if he was really an offender. Sex offenders tend to have many victims, not just one. Canton is a small town and everyone is usaully just looking for drama. Its pretty sad that the only drama this town could have led up to had to bring a innocent man in a situation like this. My prayers go out to this family for they need them the most. My prayers also go out to the town and the "victim" for in the end we will see who was really telling the truth. My faith goes towards Jason for i belive he is as innocent as any.
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Guest's avatar

Guest · 675 weeks ago

Stumbled across your blog. Supposedly it has now come out that this accuser is pregnant by one of the Fulton County Sheriff's Deputies who investigated the whole thing. I'm not saying Jason is innocent, but I doubt this girl was completely innocent in this.
1 reply · active 675 weeks ago
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Guest's avatar

Guest · 675 weeks ago

Oh and of course Fulton County Sheriff's Department is sweeping this whole thing under the rug by making the guy retire.
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janet's avatar

janet · 605 weeks ago

Im not quick to judge but He flirted and was quite forward with me through emails several years ago. I never said anything. Just thought he had a problem. It made me really uncomfortable as his friend so I just deleted him on Fb even though I knew him since I was young. Really surprised he'd go for a young teen though.

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