Some of the audio evidence under contention in the ongoing case against two suspects charged in relation to child abuse at the First United Methodist Church daycare will be admissible at trial, following a hearing Friday in Christian Circuit Court.
The audio clips are from a recorded interview between then Pastor Paige Williams and a group of concerned citizens, where they are asking questions and bring forth their concerns and she is responding to them. Defense attorney Bill Deatherage represents Williams and argued that the recordings shouldn’t be used at trial, because they’re difficult to understand and because he feels there’s no admission to any wrong-doing.
Special prosecutor Blake Chambers contends that while they may not contain any admission of wrong-doing, they do show that Williams understood there was abuse taking place and how the reporting of that abuse should have happened.
All parties involved went through the pieces one-by-one Thursday, with compromises being made that would allow one clip in its entirety, others edited to contain just Williams’ statements, and another being removed entirely.
New motions were filed Friday, concerning further evidence in the case, with attorneys wanting as many people in the audio files identified as possible, along with the identity of who recorded the statements originally. Proceedings were continued until Thursday at 8:30 a.m.