Politics & Government

Convicted Rapist Won't Get New Trial

Ernest Willis raped, impregnated a teenage girl in 1997.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected a request of a new trial for a man who raped and impregnated a teenage girls in 1997, according to the Associated Press.

The man, Ernest Willis, was convicted more than two years ago, of raping the girl back in 1997. The case made both state and national headlines after it was revealed that a former pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, Charles Phelps, made the girl apologize and ask the church's congregation for forgiveness for having sex with Willis, who always maintained it was consensual. Willis pled guilty to statutory rape before the trial started. He was later convicted on four other counts. 

Willis’ lawyer requested the new trial stating that the statements made by Phelps at the trial should not have been allowed. Prosecutors however, challenged the request, since it involved sexual abuse of a child. The court sided with prosecutors on Aug. 21, and also threw out a challenge to evidence that was offered during the case involving a police officer giving an opinion during questioning of Willis. The full decision can be found here in PDF

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Phelps is now pastor at a church in Indiana. His son and daughter-in-law died in a tragic bus accident last month


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