The judge did not mince words when handing down a 21-year prison sentence for a Springfield man charged with molesting a child two decades ago.
Greene County Judge Jerry Harmison found David Patrick Yount, 57, guilty in April 2024 of the class B felony of first-degree child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy.
At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, June 18, Harmison recalled one of the attorneys quoted Springfield pastor Ben Davis in their opening statements:
“The quote was, ‘The state punishes, but the church forgives,’” Harmison said. “Today, it’s time for the state to speak.”
Harmison also had words for Pastor Davis and Davis’ church, the Abundant Life Church, where Yount and his wife attended when the victim came forward with allegations of sexual abuse back in 2009.
Witnesses testified at Yount’s trial on April 30, 2024, that the pastor knew about the child’s allegations and brought the matter to the congregation — rather than alerting law enforcement agents or making a hotline call to the Missouri Children’s Division.
“(The victim) was required to meet with Pastor Ben Davis. There was a meeting with the elders,” Harmison reminded Yount. “And you were placed up with Ben Davis in front of the congregation. You were weeping. He said you’ve sinned against your family and you can no longer work with the youth.”
“You didn’t speak up,” Harmison said. “You cried. You didn’t say, ‘No, he’s wrong.’
Pastors, by law, are required to report abuse allegations
Harmison said the church failed the victim and he doesn’t think anyone in the church that day could have possibly believed Yount was innocent.
“Frankly, I find it unconscionable that a pastor in our community or anyone wouldn’t report that situation. I don’t know if Ben Davis is here today,” Harmison said, glancing at the 15 or so people in the gallery who came to court to support Yount. “I was hoping he would be. I don’t have any authority over him, but I am extremely disappointed in him and that church.”
According to Missouri law, pastors are mandated to immediately report suspected child abuse.
Teachers, health care practitioners, mental health providers, day care workers, social workers, and several other occupations are also classified by Missouri law as mandated reporters of child abuse. Still, it appears no one from the Abundant Life Church congregation made a hotline call. The victim’s allegations of abuse were not investigated until three years later, when she disclosed the abuse to a counselor in 2012.
The Springfield Daily Citizen’s attempts to speak with Davis have not been successful.
According to the Abundant Life Church’s website, Davis has been the lead pastor at the church for 34 years.
Case dragged on for nearly a decade
According to the probable cause statement dated June 2014, the then-16-year-old victim disclosed in 2012 that Yount sexually abused her when she was between the ages of 4 and 7.
The victim was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center in Springfield in 2012, where she described sexual abuse that included Yount touching her genitalia through her clothing, him pressing his genitalia against her and other forms of sexual abuse.
Yount was charged in November of 2014, but was released from jail on bond. He remained free until he was found guilty on May 9, 2024, and booked into the Greene County Jail.
Online court records show Yount’s jury trial had been canceled and rescheduled at least 12 times over the years.
A mistrial happened in 2019 when the jurors were unable to come to a unanimous decision.
The case was assigned to at least four judges over the years, before it was finally assigned to Harmison in February of 2023. Harmison was appointed to the 31st Judicial Circuit in September of 2022.
Yount waived his right to a jury trial and had a bench trial on April 30, 2024.
Victim: ‘This case went on for dang near half my life’
“The bench we have in Greene County looked much different in 2014,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Fax said at Tuesday’s hearing. “(The victim) went through a preliminary hearing, two depositions, a jury trial and then a bench trial. And at any point in this process, it would have been easier for her to walk away. …
“Ten years and (the victim) is still here. And so are we,” Fax continued. “We’ve all watched (the victim) struggle over what had been done to her and relive it at every hearing, where her character as a child was questioned.
“We’ve all watched her slowly blossom into the amazing and resilient young woman she is today,” Fax said. “But she is these things despite what happened to her.”
The victim — now an adult — gave a victim impact statement at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.
She thanked Harmison for handling the case “in a timely manner.”
“I’m sure you can imagine how refreshing that is,” the victim. “This case went on for dang near half my life.”
Due to the trauma of what happened when she was younger, she said struggles to trust adults, struggles with boundaries and has anxiety.
“I am relieved the truth has come to light,” the victim said, “but I am exhausted.”
Convicted man maintains he is innocent
Yount, who appeared in court wearing jail scrubs, spoke briefly before he was sentenced.
He said it is difficult to be in court and hear people say bad things about him and his wife.
“That is not who we are,” Yount said, adding that he believes he showed his innocence by staying in Springfield for the past 10 years instead of fleeing.
“I have a lot of people here supporting me. If I was as bad as they claim I am, I believe they would see that,” he said. “All I want is for (the victim) to move on and be happy.”
He then asked for mercy and that the judge “not be persuaded by the negative things said about me.”
“I prayed for you to (have) grace and mercy,” Yount said to Harmison. “I put my life in your hands.”
Harmison sentenced Yount to 21 years in a Missouri Department of Corrections prison for Count I of first-degree statutory sodomy and 10 years in prison for Count 2 of first-degree child molestation. Harmison ordered those sentences to be served concurrently.
“(The abuse) occurred in or about 2003, 21 years ago,” Harmison said. “(The victim) has endured this situation for 21 years; therefore, the sentence is 21 years.”
