In boxing, they say it’s the punch you don’t see coming that knocks you out. In the wider world, the reality we ignore or deny is the one that weakens our most impassioned efforts toward improvement. Katherine Dunn
The Chantry trial proceeds. I am grateful that Todd Wilhelm is keeping us posted.
Here are two new posts.
Sears stated in his opening statement that, “we think many if not all alleged victims in this case” have distorted memory.
Apparently, the video testimony of Dr. Davis will last 3 hours. She will undoubtedly inform the jurors of how memory works and then Defense attorney Sears will attempt to use this information to convince the jurors that the testimony of the victims was flawed and not reliable. Call me skeptical, but I find it difficult to believe this tactic will be effective. I sat through all the victim’s testimony and found it to be gripping and believable. A child may not remember all the details of when they were physically and sexually abused, but they are going to remember the event.
…After the testimony from Dr. Davis the Defense will call Don Lindblad to the witness stand. Lindblad is the pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, an ARBCA church located in Kirkland, WA.
…When the ARBCA sent their three-man investigative committee to Miller Valley Baptist Church in December 2000 to investigate Tom Chantry, Lindblad served as Chantry’s “advocate.” In 2006 a victim who had been repeatedly physically and sexually abused by Chantry in 1995-1996, at the age of 10 had tracked Chantry down and insisted on a phone conversation with him. Chantry only agreed to participate if Don Lindblad also could take part. Was Lindblad aware of Chantry’s abuse at this time? Remember, Chantry denied all charges of abuse in 2000, saying only that he disciplined the children. If Lindblad was not aware of the physical and sexual abuse it seems strange to me that Chantry would ask Lindblad to participate in a phone call with one of his victims, now 21 years of age. Yet we learn in March 2018 that Lindblad is close friends with Chantry and wants to help him in his trial.
…Following Lindblad’s testimony, Sears had made it clear that Tom Chantry will take the stand. Personally, I think this is a desperate move by the Defense but it will be interesting to watch.
Day Seven of the Thomas Chantry Trial
…The State called Rich Howe as a witness at 9:17 A.M. Howe attended Miller Valley Baptist Church for 27 or 28 years and was an Elder when Tom Chantry was the pastor at the church.
Howe discussed the July 4, 1995 incident where Tom Chantry punched 12-year-old Victim 5 in the face, knocking him to the ground. Chantry had only been at the church for a short time and was still in “interim” status. Rich Howe testified that he did not witness the actual punch to the face.
Susan Eazer asked Howe if there were concerns or discussions about Chantry’s behavior. Howe said there was, and they had talked to Tom, but at the end of the day, they decided to forgive Tom and move on.
…C.L. testified that Tom Chantry approached her about tutoring her son.
In September or October of 2000, C.L. picked her son up from the parsonage after a tutoring session with Chantry. Her son had been beaten so bad he could hardly walk. From the top of his buttocks to the bottom of his thighs were purple bruises, welts, and blisters. It looked like he had been struck by a 4-inch wide board. She felt sick and did not know what to do. She called Rich Howe. Rich Howe confronted Chantry. Chantry again denied bare-bottom spanking but did admit spanking the boy.
C.L. left the church shortly after the ARBCA investigation concluded. She regrets not having called the Police.
In a move which surprised me, Defense attorney Sears declined to cross examine C.L.
If I had been Sears, I would have wanted C.L. off the stand ASAP! That was hair-raising testimony.
Chantry’s cousin’s explanation for the boy who got punched in the face by Chantry.
James Altvater is Chantry’s cousin. This comment was left under the Day 7 post. If you ever had any doubts about the lengths people will go to in order to deny that their loved one is an abuser, you now have the best example I have ever read. In fact, I think it will be my* go to* example until the day I stop blogging. If this wasn’t such a sick excuse, I would be hysterically laughing. Sadly, there are people who are so enmeshed in this group that they might actually believe this excuse.
Read the comment carefully. He claims the boy just happened to run into Chantry’s hands!!!!!!!
Anything I could add would be superfluous.
1
1st BAM!!!
drstevej,
I can see you are trying to regain your formerly impeccable response pattern.
dee,
If only Alexa would do it for me.
In light of the post, might want to use a different word. Bingo? On-the-money?
Anyway, thanks Todd W. for being there in Court, Dee for posting, and nice to once again connect, up front, drstevej.
jyjames,
You are right! Bad word choice.
Well, his cousin got one thing right “There is something very dark surrounding this case.”
Wouldn’t that attempted defense involving the fallibility of memory also apply to the Defendant? Wouldn’t it also leave him open to charges of misremembering?
And what happened with the spanking then? Did a child run backwards into a board repeatedly, causing massive bruising? What a world they live in.
The sad thing is, from my experience, I would guess there are many who would unblushingly posit just such an explanation. I probably would never have believed it had I not witnessed my spouse and others justifying anything the idolized pastor said or did. Mind control, brainwashing, hypnosis? I don’t know what to call it, but serious, intelligent, capable people can be manipulated into turning off their brain by a clever narcissist who knows just how to push their buttons. It is both tragic and terrifying, as you imagine another Jim Jones arising.
Where were the fathers at to give this scumbag a major beatdown after spanking/punching their kids?
I know I’d be in jail after “counseling” Chantry. It would be worth it!
Somewhereintime,
I argee… Like the guy in court that said he just wanted 5 minutes with good old Dr Nasser….
.. note that Sandusky set up a “foundation” ( better described as a hunting ground) for kids from broken families….. and he preyed on them…
Somewhereintime,
I argee… Like the guy in court that said he just wanted 5 minutes with good old Dr Nasser….
.. note that Sandusky set up a “foundation” ( better described as a hunting ground) for kids from broken families….. and he preyed on them…
Uh…, That’s an excuse my 5 year old would give. Yoiks.
Those Chantry family reunions must be a real hoot! Or should I say a real quack!
Well, I guess we don’t need a trial and the world can relax because James Altvater “KNOWS” Tom wouldn’t have done any of these things. SMH.
Memory is flawed. I can still remember conversations I had and things that occurred when I was 5 yrs old and younger. That was a long time ago. I guess in the Chantry family, which includes James Altvater, that being punched in the face was a normal thing. The jury should eat his testimony up and spit it out. I know I would if I were on that jury. Seriously, they wouldn’t want me. I’m too opinionated. If anybody would have spanked my child like Chantry did, they would without a doubt be sitting a jail cell now and for yrs to come. Sounds like this defense attorney is putting people on the stand that are doing a lot of CYA talking (covering your assets). Chantry really puts me on edge and is very disturbing to me. I truly believe there is a special punishment reserved for people who physically abuse children.
Maybe. I remember lying in a crib looking at the blue teddy bear design on the headboard. I also remember excitedly shopping for what my mom called “my first big girl bed”. These events happened when I was about 3 years old when my mother decided it was time to transition me out of my crib. I know they happened because the look of incredulity on my mother’s face when I described the crib and the shopping trip in great detail. I also remember a teenage male cousin tell me to touch his private parts one afternoon when I was visiting my grandma. My grandma was taking a nap on the couch, and I woke her up because I was scared although I didn’t tell her what happened because I was afraid no one would believe me. I was about 5 years old, and I know that happened for a fact. I don’t doubt my memories. That cousin joined the military soon after so I did not see him again for about ten years. It was probably about 10 years before I told anyone about it. I haven’t seen that cousin for about 20 years as of now, and I am okay with that. I never heard of him becoming a sex offender or anything, but I know the incident with him occurred.
1995 incident where Tom Chantry punched 12-year-old Victim 5 in the face, knocking him to the ground. Chantry had only been at the church for a short time and was still in “interim” status.
Making my way through the stories and I got to this. They kept an INTERIM pastor who punched a kid in the face????? What in the actual World…Can you even imagine?
Lily Rose,
I have very distinct memories of a funeral I went to when I was only 2. they are just flashes, but real.
[BTW, formatting messed up on my lsat comment, but the incredulous sentences at the bottom are mine]
“These N Pastors said one to another:
PASTOR UNTO PASTOR O’ER THE WORLD IS BROTHER…”
Memories from that long ago are probably pretty fragmentary in any case.
It was in the Phelps family (as in Fred Phelps).
“Chin-Chin!”
“TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!”
(On pain of Eternal Hell)
Lily Rose,
My mom said she thinks I remember it because she was so upset, which makes sense. Also probably the first funeral I ever went to.
I still remember my crib, escaping it, being put into it by a baby sitter who cut off my Wizard of Oz viewing early while I was still eating my fruit snack packet. (What were those called again? They’re like a cross between fruit roll-ups and gummy bears.) She actually left me in the crib with my fruit snack. She was supposed to let me finish the movie first. Grr. I even remember the day my crib was torn down and replaced with a bed. I can remember many of my toys from when I was a little tot, including the giant Legos you give to the smallest kids so they don’t choke.
Ah, the good ol’ days of crib jail breaks!
As for traumatic memories, I can remember the time I swallowed a quarter as a toddler and began choking on it. I remember my parents giving me milk to try to help me. After that it’s somewhat of a blank, but I was taken to the hospital.
I also remember my parents stupidly dragging me into the theater to see Aliens when it released. I think I was around three years old. I remember screaming as soon as the scenes got dark. My Mom had to take me into the movie next door to see the middle of Karate Kid 2, while my father and aunt continued with Aliens. When we entered Karate Kid 2, it was in the middle of the fight scene in someone’s little garden thing. I totally remember that. Fortunately, I didn’t quite remember Aliens accurately, even though it gave me nightmares. My brain reprocessed it to make it different that what I actually saw. Years later I was surprised at the difference. I remembered it as a hairy monster beast jumping out of a spaceship and strangling some guy. At least, that’s what my nightmares featured. But the first dark scene that I saw when I viewed Aliens as an adult, which my Mom pointed out as the part where I began screaming and crying, was actually the scene where the little girl’s family’s vehicle breaks down and the little girl starts screaming.
And the grand old point of this is that I did see something that traumatized me, but my brain reprocessed it to something else entirely. And yet, the trauma happened. The fear happened. The nightmares ensued for weeks–and those I do remember vividly.
Hence, something *did* happen to Chantry’s “alleged” victims. Even if they don’t remember accurately, they still have the trauma from the event. I know I saw Aliens as a toddler, even if I didn’t remember what I saw with any accuracy. And yet, I remember being in the theater crying and screaming, and I accurately remember Karate Kid 2. My brain protected itself from trauma, because it couldn’t quite process what it saw, and processed it as something else (which unfortunately was still scary and gave me scary nightmares).
Even the youngest of Chantry’s “alleged” victims would remember the event, even if their brains protect them from the full details. The doctor’s testimony will prove nothing.
I was a member of the Chantry church in Wisconsin for four years and knew of Tom – not personally – because he would not allow anyone to know him personally because of what he was hiding. I came under his “spell” because he was a good preacher. However, I knew that something was seriously wrong by his lack of pastoral skills. Tom is a narcissist as are many in the clergy. Their abilities to manipulate are demonic. I think justice will prevail in this sordid case and Tom will deserve the sentence he will receive.
Abusive pulpits would have no stage, if they didn’t have pews full of folks who are just as messed up spiritually as their leaders.
Even the devil knows Scripture … he quoted it to Jesus.
“Demonic” is a word that should be used more frequently to describe what is going on in many corners of the American church. Pulpits are being taken by stealth and deception; pews are being controlled by manipulation and intimidation. These are not fruit of the Holy Spirit. The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy … and he is doing his best work in the institutional church. Buyer beware! Pray for discernment before joining yourself to anything.
It’s so sad that Dr. Davis can’t remember anything from her childhood. I guess she forgot how she learned to read and write … and to be honest to others.
I live in Wisconsin as well, and I had a cousin who attended church in Hales Corners where Chantry had his church. I don’t know if my cousin’s church was the same church as my cousin is now deceased so I cannot ask him. Scary to think what this guy might have been doing!!!