Monday, February 22, 1999
Minister returns to court in abuse
Daughter charges sexual molestation
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Rev. Bell
|
HAMILTON — A well-known Middletown minister, accused of sexually abusing his daughter for years, is set for a retrial todayon 13 sex charges a jury couldn't decide last fall.
The retrial of the Rev. Darrell S. Bell is expected to be an expanded version of the previous trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court, which ended Oct. 2 with an acquittal on a single rape charge. Judge H.J. Bressler, who also heard the first trial, will preside over the retrial.
In a case that has divided the Middletown community and devastated the Bell family, the Rev. Mr. Bell, 44, still faces 13 felony charges that could send him to prison for decades. He is charged with five counts of rape, five counts of sexual battery and three counts of felonious sexual penetration.
The Rev. Mr. Bell's daughter, Dawn, now 20, is a former Middletown High School prom queen, class president and honor student who alleges her father sexually abused her from the time she was 10 until she turned 18 and went away to college.
The Cincinnati Enquirer usually withholds names of complaining witnesses who allege sex crimes, but Ms. Bell has consented to publication of her name, saying she wants to be an example to other women.
Ms. Bell first disclosed the alleged abuse to a boyfriend at Bowling Green State University. He is among several new witnesses expected to testify in the retrial, said Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Patricia Downing.
“This is a case that needs to be tried again,” Ms. Downing said. “It's a very serious case. It was a longstanding abuse case, and I believe very strongly in this victim.”
Testimony in the previous trial concluded in three days, but Ms. Downing said testimony from additional witnesses for both the prosecution and defense probably will fill five days.
Defense lawyer Robert Bostick of Dayton, Ohio, did not return a telephone message seeking comment. He repeatedly declined comment following the previous verdict.
The Rev. Mr. Bell is an AK Steel employee who says he has been an ordained minister for about 25 years. He has been associate pastor of Bethlehem Temple First Pentecostal Church and also has conducted services at his home.
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