Sex abuse lawsuit against Southern Baptist leader headed to appeals court
Robert Downen Nov. 6, 2019 Updated: Nov. 6, 2019 8:45 p.m.
Retired Judge Paul Pressler of Houston, and the Rev. Paige Patterson (NOT PICTURED) of Forth Worth, steered the Southern Baptist Convention to the right.
Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, STR / AP
A sexual abuse lawsuit against prominent Southern Baptist figure Paul Pressler entered a new chapter on Monday, when his accuser's attorneys asked a Texas appeals court to overturn a ruling that the rape claims were filed too late.
Duane Rollins alleged in a 2017 lawsuit that Pressler had raped him for decades, starting when Rollins was 14 years old. Pressler, a former state legislator and appeals court judge, is considered a co-architect of a movement that pushed the Southern Baptist Convention to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible.
Pressler declined comment on the most recent filing, telling a reporter "we haven't read anything." His lawyer wrote in an email that he is confident the lower court judge "correctly interpreted and applied the law given the facts in this case."
Rollins' lawsuit prompted three other men to submit affidavits in which they alleged Pressler groped or solicited them for sex, as well as a letter in which a local church confirmed Pressler had been dismissed as its youth leader in the late 1970s because of an "alleged incident" with a youth group member.
A Harris County judge last year dismissed Rollins' lawsuit, saying his claims were outside Texas' statute of limitations. Rollins has since retained counsel from senior partners at Baker Botts, one of Texas' most prestigious law practices.
In a 110-page appeal filed Monday, attorneys from the firm argue that the lower court's dismissal should be voided because Rollins had not come to terms with the sexual assaults, which he said started around 1980, until a few years ago. Rollins maintains the abuses led to his long battle with addiction to drugs and alcohol, and landed him in prison for years.
His attorneys say that Pressler used "religious manipulation and financial payoffs" that distorted Rollins' perception of the alleged abuses, arguing that his window for filing a lawsuit should have started in 2015. That year, Rollins said he first came to realize the scope of his alleged abuse. A psychiatrist later said Rollins suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a "direct result" of childhood sexual abuse, memories of which he'd suppressed for decades.
One part of their argument revolves around a 2004 assault lawsuit filed in Dallas that Pressler settled with Rollins for $450,000. In that lawsuit, Rollins accused Pressler of assault, but did not mention anything sexual, court records show. Pressler's attorney has argued that the lawsuit was, in fact, based on sexual misconduct and that Rollins' claims already have been settled.
Hours after the 2004 case was settled, Rollins was arrested on a drunk driving charge. He was arrested again a few years later, and was sent back to prison. His attorneys say that shows Rollins still was unable to cope with the trauma from the alleged abuses.
They also cite Rollins' claims that Pressler told him the alleged abuses were ordained by God — an assertion that Rollins says pushed him into a sort of Stockholm syndrome that prevented him from recognizing himself as an abuse victim.
"Pressler's principal tactic to avoid detection was by appealing to Rollins's deep religiosity," his attorneys wrote. "He told Rollins that he was 'special' and that 'no one but God would understand' their relationship. Pressler thus convinced Rollins to keep 'our secret' to himself. As such, Duane froze during the original and ensuing rapes, (believing) they were God-sanctioned and would never stop."
Rollins maintains that Pressler's behavior was concealed by prominent Southern Baptist churches and leaders, which they deny.
Rollins' claims also were noted in an ongoing Houston Chronicle investigation that revealed hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been credibly accused of sex crimes in the last two decades. They left behind more than 700 victims, nearly all of them children.
robert.downen@chron.com
Robert Downen
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Robert Downen covers general assignment and breaking news stories for the Houston Chronicle's metro desk. Prior to that, he worked as a business reporter in Albany, New York, and as the managing editor of a group of six newspapers in Illinois. He is a 2014 graduate of Eastern Illinois University.
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