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Jury Acquits Minister In Sexual-Advances Case

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Four women and two men held Ronald Smart's future in their hands Wednesday.

The question they had to decide was simple: Did Smart undress, straddle and kiss a sleeping 37-year-old man in June 2006, as alleged by prosecutors? Or was the allegation the work of a man trying to extort money from the pastor and his church, as the defense contended?

Jurors deliberated for more than two hours before finding Smart not guilty of misdemeanor battery.

Smart, 48, pastor of Union Missionary Baptist Church in Port Richey, declined to comment as he left the courtroom. His attorney, Chris Frey, summed up the importance of the verdict this way:

"His good name is everything to him."

Smart's accuser, a former church member, left the courthouse without comment. The Tampa Tribune is withholding the man's name because of the nature of the allegations.

In the legal world, the charge of misdemeanor battery is not considered serious. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of a year in the county jail. Had Smart been found guilty, his clean record might have limited his sentence to probation or a fine.

But the sexual nature of the allegation meant it was potentially devastating to him as a religious leader and family man. Smart has been married for 27 years and has four children.

Besides the testimony of the former parishioner, Assistant State Attorney Neil O'Brien relied on a recorded telephone conversation between the men to make his case. In the conversation, Smart makes no admissions but doesn't deny the allegations.

O'Brien argued that Smart's failure to deny the man's accusations showed he was guilty.

Frey picked away at the accuser's credibility, pointing out inconsistencies in his accounts of how the battery occurred.

He also argued that Smart's statements in the phone conversation weren't even close to an admission.

"There's nothing on that tape to suggest that he admitted to anything," Frey said in his closing argument.

Smart and his accuser met at Union Missionary Baptist about six weeks before the incident. The two went on a fishing trip with other church members on June 10, 2006. Smart picked him up and took him to a dock in Tarpon Springs.

The group returned to shore that afternoon, ate dinner at a Greek restaurant and dispersed. Smart drove the man home but first stopped at his Seven Springs home to check on construction work he was having done.

The accuser testified he sat down on a futon in Smart's home office and fell asleep. He said he awoke to find Smart straddling him and kissing his chest. Smart left the room when the doorbell rang, the man said.

Smart testified that nothing out of the ordinary happened. He said he and the man sat on the futon and talked for a short time, and then he left.

The allegation, the defense argued, only arose because Smart refused to co-sign a car loan for the man and had rebuffed other financial requests.

The man also retained a civil attorney to keep open the possibility of suing Smart and the church, Frey argued.

No lawsuit has been filed.

"The scary part of the case is that it's an illustration that anyone in our society is only one allegation away from being in the defendant's seat and facing the loss of their liberty," Frey said.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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