The founder and president of an international organization devoted to fighting the abuse of children by religious authority figures has spoken out strongly against two Victory Christian employees seeking the dismissal of charges for failing to report child abuse.
But the employees' attorney says the statute in question does not apply to their case.
John and Charica Daugherty's attorney Jason Robertson filed a motion Friday in Tulsa District Court seeking the dismissal of misdemeanor charges of failing to report child abuse against his clients.
Prosecutors charged the pair and three other Victory Christian Center employees in September after the church admitted its staff had failed to tell police about the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl for more than three weeks.
But Robertson argues that state statutes clearly define child abuse based on the status of the person accused.
"Unfortunately the legislature, when they defined what 'child abuse' is, they made it dependent upon the status of the person that was committing the crime. In this particular case, that status has to be a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare. When you look at the facts of this case, neither of the individuals that are charged with the underlying crimes would be people that are responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare."
He added, "It is a horrific crime and everyone is sorry that that happened. But the statute in this particular case does not apply to John and Charisa."
Barbara Blair founded Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in 1988.
The Chicago resident says she was molested by a priest beginning when she was about 13 years old, the same age as the reported rape victim in the Victory case.
She tells KRMG the law may be unclear, but the moral issues involved are not.
"That move is heartbreaking, it's less than Christian and it is self-serving. It is an attempt to shirk the responsibilities of those church employees."
She continued, "I can't imagine why anyone would stoop to this level, to put blame on victims or on the system and not take responsibility."
Robertson says he is simply basing his argument on the existing statutes.
"As an attorney when I look at the law, if the law doesn't apply, what kind of advice would I be giving if I said 'hey, this law doesn't apply to you but you should plead guilty.'"
He points out that Florida had similar wording in its child abuse law and has changed the passages about the status of the person accused of abuse.
Blaine remains mystified by the Daughertys' stance.
"Boy, I sure never heard of someone trying to claim that a 13-year-old somehow didn't deserve their help and their support."