Texas v. Ward

Texas v. Ward was a late 1990s (1998/9) criminal case in which Kenneth Eugene Ward please guilty to indecency with a child. The investigation of the case leading to Ward' arrest began When Tommy Burt recovered memories of abuse by Kenneth Eugene Ward at the Eastside Baptist Church seventeen years earlier. Tommy "didn't remember the abuse until 1996, when he was 26 years old, and wasn't ready to press charges until two years later. A subsequent investigation by local prosecutors revealed that at least 35 other boys from the small East Texas town of Henderson were allegedly assaulted by Kenneth Eugene Ward, prosecutors said." However, Tommy's and most of the other boys' cases had expired under the statute of limitations, preventing them from going forward with the case. "But because the alleged abuse had occurred decades earlier, the statute of limitations had expired. Despite a full written confession by Ward vividly detailing alleged transgressions across three decades, and specifically mentioning Tommy Burt by name, only the latest incident of abuse Ward confessed to was eligible for prosecution." Ward was sentenced to twelve years on a single count of child indecency, and served only four before being released to a halfway house (Kassabian) See also 11/12/03 - East Texas KLTV EXCLUSIVE: Former Preacher/Child Molester Released. 11/12/03 - East Texas KLTV EXCLUSIVE: Former Preacher/Child Molester Released)