Oct. 19, 2025

The Lindsey Whiteside Saga

The Lindsey Whiteside Saga

In this episode of Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite, Jim Chapman examines the case and impending firestorm the sentencing created for Lindsay Whiteside, a former youth pastor charged with sexual battery against a minor in DeSoto County, Mississippi. 

Jim analyzes the single charge filed despite multiple abuses and discusses the manipulative tactics used by Whiteside. The impending sentence which calls to question the motives behind it and the community's response to the sentencing.

Jim also dives deep into the double standards in sexual crime cases and how an elected official became entangled in this ongoing saga.

Follow “Crime Wire Weekly” on it’s new channel HERE:
Apple Podcasts  
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crime-wire-weekly/id1815864889
Spotify 
https://open.spotify.com/show/3zyrgjtW6gLUVbicJaYXV9?si=0dbf4983938344a2
Amazon Music 
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3738411d-828e-4138-9976-223ab5de2c87/the-crime-wire-weekly

Legal Note:  
 
The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only.  The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any affiliated organizations or institutions. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we cannot guarantee the completeness, reliability, or suitability of the information discussed.    

The podcast does not constitute professional advice, and listeners are encouraged to seek guidance from qualified professionals regarding any specific issues or concerns. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge that you understand and accept these terms.  We are not liable for any actions taken based on the content provided in this podcast. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/exposed-scandalous-files-of-the-elite--6073723/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.640
Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of

2
00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:23.280
the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and today I

3
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.239
am bringing you what is a case. I would almost

4
00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:30.719
call it an active case because there's still some things

5
00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:33.359
that are going to go down with this one truly

6
00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:37.200
just wrapped up legally, and we'll get into that. But

7
00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.359
before I start, I want to get a short shout

8
00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:43.880
out to my buddy Chad for recommending this one, which

9
00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:49.520
initially became news in DeSoto County, Mississippi, and this has

10
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.880
grown in just the past couple of days into a

11
00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:57.799
national story, and that's where I come in. I have

12
00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.520
got to tell you, of all thees I have covered,

13
00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:08.200
this one right here takes the cake bar, none, shocking, appalling,

14
00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:11.760
every other adjective that you can think of. So, as

15
00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:17.200
I mentioned, this particular story took place in DeSoto County, Mississippi, which,

16
00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:21.319
for those unfamiliar, de Soto County is located on the

17
00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:26.359
northwest border of Mississippi. It's just on the outskirts, and

18
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.159
I mean just on the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee. Now,

19
00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.359
the incidents that I'm about to tell you about more

20
00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:39.040
specifically took place in the Hernando area of DeSoto County.

21
00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:43.799
So let's discuss Lindsey Whiteside, who at the time of

22
00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.000
her arrest was nearly twenty six years old. She was

23
00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:51.480
a youth pastor for a church known as Getwell Church.

24
00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:57.159
And Getwell, y'all, is a road it runs. It's basically

25
00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:59.840
a long main road. There's a lot of things on

26
00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.640
that road that are named after the road itself. This

27
00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:06.560
church no different in this church was a rather large church.

28
00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.039
They have two locations, one of those being in Hernando,

29
00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:14.240
the other one being in South Haven area of Mississippi.

30
00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:19.560
So continuing on, she was also a former assistant basketball

31
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.800
coach for De Soto High School de Soto Central High School. Now,

32
00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.039
all that came to an end for Lindsay when she

33
00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:30.280
was arrested and then on December thirteenth of twenty twenty four,

34
00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:34.560
indicted on a charge of sexual batter And while the

35
00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:39.520
indictment was short in length, it was descriptive. So if

36
00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:43.719
you have anyone listening to this with you, especially under

37
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.960
the age of eighteen, or if this type of subject

38
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.240
matter is a trigger for you, here is your warning.

39
00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.479
The indictment reads like this. The Grand Jurorsey of the

40
00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.520
State of Mississippi, taken from the body of good and

41
00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.960
lawful citizens of descetto County thereof duly elected and paneled

42
00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.400
sworn in charge to inquire in and for the County

43
00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:11.840
and state aforementioned at the Grand Jury Session aforesaid, in

44
00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:15.080
the name and authority of the State of Mississippi, upon

45
00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:20.000
Barrows present, that Lindsey Aldey Whiteside, of the County and

46
00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:24.719
state aforesaid, which is descetto County, between the dates of

47
00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:28.840
May fourteenth, twenty twenty four November sixth of twenty twenty four,

48
00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.520
in the county and state above and within the jurisdiction

49
00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:37.719
of this Court, did wilfully, unlawfully, felonously, intentionally, and knowingly

50
00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:42.479
engage in sexual penetration with m F. And it's just

51
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.159
the initials because obviously this is someone under the age

52
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.639
of eighteen, a child less than eighteen years of age,

53
00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.039
by placing her finger in the vagina of MF and

54
00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:59.120
or engaging in conelingis by touching her tongue to the

55
00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:03.759
vagina up at a time when Lindsey Alti Whiteside was

56
00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:07.199
in a position of trust or authority over the child,

57
00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.479
in direct violation and it goes into the section. So

58
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:14.400
that is the indictment of Lindsey Whiteside, and as you

59
00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:18.040
can see, very serious shit right now in that indictment.

60
00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.360
One thing that stuck out to me is that she

61
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.560
was only charged with a single charge. And after many

62
00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.600
of the facts of this case came out, it was

63
00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.199
surprising to me that the DA did not do what

64
00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:35.160
is known as stacking charges. You basically throw the buck

65
00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:38.439
at someone and that kind of starts to force a

66
00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.360
plea deal that would become more weighted toward the county. Now,

67
00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.439
as we go along in the story, you're going to

68
00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:48.000
gain an understanding of maybe why he did not do that.

69
00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:53.079
The instances of sexual battery occurred numerous times, many times,

70
00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:58.360
yet only that single charge. Now, technically, by law, every

71
00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.439
occasion of sexual could have resulted in a separate charge,

72
00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.800
at least in my state. Pretty sure it's that way

73
00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:07.759
in Mississippi, but I could be wrong. Let me know

74
00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:10.120
if I am. And what I mean by that is,

75
00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:14.040
if it occurred on let's say, ten separate occasions with

76
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.480
that same female. Technically, in some states, including mine, you

77
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.759
can be charged with ten separate counts, not one count.

78
00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.680
Why does this matter? Well, instead of facing up to

79
00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.360
thirty years for a single count you're now facing three

80
00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.560
hundred years for ten counts. It just gives the state

81
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.160
larger bargaining chips, if you will. But for whatever reason,

82
00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:41.839
that did not happen, and I would be curious to

83
00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.920
know why. Just a question. We'll move on. So on

84
00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:51.360
November twenty first, Lindsey Whiteside actually gets arrested and immediately

85
00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:56.600
news of her rest. Now that makes ways throughout DeSoto

86
00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:01.920
County's area. Lindsey was well known in DeSoto County. The

87
00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.399
white Side family name carried a lot of weight in

88
00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:10.240
DeSoto County. The Whitesides produced several basketball stars throughout the

89
00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.360
year in that county, and Lindsey herself she played college

90
00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:19.120
basketball for Lipscomb University, which is a private college located

91
00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:22.839
in Nashville, Tennessee, and she was gout five foot ten,

92
00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:27.240
long blonde hair, she would stand out on a basketball court.

93
00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.240
So it was a natural transition that after high school

94
00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:34.079
for her to go back home and she started coaching

95
00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:38.160
basketball at DeSoto Central High School. She was an assistant

96
00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.079
coach there to my knowledge, and then she was also

97
00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:46.839
very active in her church, which was the Getwell Church

98
00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.600
in Hernando, Mississippi, which is a Baptist church in that area,

99
00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:55.199
and she was what they called a student outreach coordinator,

100
00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:59.839
which is essentially a youth pastor, a youth mentor, if

101
00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:04.480
you will. Now, this is a major problem when you're accused,

102
00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:07.519
at least as of November twenty twenty four, when she

103
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.279
originally got accused of the things that she was accused of.

104
00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:16.800
Because think of the access to young people that this

105
00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:21.680
girl had, not only with her involvement in employment at

106
00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:27.079
Getwell Church, but also her involvement in employment prior to that,

107
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:31.959
coaching basketball assistant coach at Desto Central High School. So,

108
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.920
as I said, the white Side family, they have a

109
00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:38.279
lot of stroke in the De Soto County area. They

110
00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:40.839
were well known as a matter of fact, so much

111
00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.319
so that two judges, and there were only two circuit

112
00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:50.319
judges in Decetto County, those judges would have to recuse

113
00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:55.240
themselves due to their relationships with the white Side family.

114
00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:58.680
One of them, I believe, went to church with the

115
00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:03.519
white Sides, knew Lindsey very well, and the other one

116
00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.839
was friends maybe or had some sort of relationship with

117
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.199
someone in her family. But for whatever reason, they would

118
00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.560
accuse themselves, and that would really come into play later

119
00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.519
on in this story. Now, the fact that they accused themselves,

120
00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:19.199
I have no problem with whatsoever. I think it was

121
00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.000
the right thing to do. The problem you run into

122
00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:28.040
if you do not recuse yourself is if Lindsey Whiteside

123
00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:31.040
is found innocent and then come to find out the

124
00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:34.360
judge went to church with her, which that would come

125
00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.320
out right, that opens up a big shot at an

126
00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:41.960
appeal for a defense team. So if you accuse yourself,

127
00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:45.919
you just keep the public's eyes off of the fact

128
00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:49.000
that maybe there was some tomfoolery going on, for lack

129
00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:51.639
of a better word. So we'll move on. Most of

130
00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:55.159
what we know about this case. It stayed under wraps

131
00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:58.360
until about a week or so ago, maybe a week

132
00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:04.519
and a half, And that's especially in cases involving underage victims.

133
00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.399
You want to, more than anything else, protect the privacy

134
00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:12.960
of these victims. And I got to say the DeSoto

135
00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.840
County District Attorney did a great job, an amazing job

136
00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.120
of doing this prior to that conviction in sentencing that

137
00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:25.559
just occurred. Now, what we have learned in the past

138
00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:32.000
week has been nothing short of shocking. So on November six,

139
00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:36.639
of twenty twenty four. The sheriff's office, they get notified

140
00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:40.639
by someone that the miner in this case confided in

141
00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:46.000
them that Lindsey Whiteside was having a sexual relationship with her.

142
00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.240
The sheriff's office notifies the DA, and as I told you,

143
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:56.399
on December thirteenth, she Lendsy Whiteside gets indicted. Now, the

144
00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.320
two judges, as I said, they had to recuse themselves.

145
00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:02.840
So the DA at this point has to go outside

146
00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:07.279
of the county to get a judge. And when something

147
00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.679
like this happens, the county DA does not just go

148
00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.639
pick a judge out there and say, hey man, you

149
00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:17.679
mind coming to DeSoto County and you know overseeing this

150
00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.879
trial that we're about to have. They don't get a

151
00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.879
choice in that. The judge is actually appointed by the

152
00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:30.639
Mississippi State Supreme Court, and this process is called appointing

153
00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.960
a special judge. This is what these judges are known

154
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.600
as special judges. And in this case, the appointed judge

155
00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:44.919
was Judge Andy Howorth and he is from Oxford, Mississippi. Now,

156
00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.679
when you have a special judge come in, it takes

157
00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:51.960
a while before these cases can move along. While these

158
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:56.279
judges are retired and that's important to mention. Special judges

159
00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:01.120
are retired judges. They're not active, they're not getting voted

160
00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.960
into office every so often by their constituents. They're retired

161
00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:08.840
and they're kind of doing this as a side hustle,

162
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.799
if you will, and they may be working other cases.

163
00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:16.360
There is a limited amount of them, and that's kind

164
00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.600
of what happened in this case. What they could have

165
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:23.039
got done in five months or so really took double

166
00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:25.320
that amount of time because they had to have a

167
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:31.360
special judge appointed. Although I will say a case of

168
00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:36.919
this magnitude, especially that involves sexual battery, ten months is

169
00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:40.559
pretty quick, ten to eleven months from start to finish

170
00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:42.639
on a case, and I think a lot of that

171
00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:44.639
was because of the evidence that we're going to get

172
00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:48.159
into that the prosecution had in this case. And let's

173
00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:53.120
talk about the evidence they had implicating Lindsey Whiteside. Here

174
00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:58.440
is what they ascertained through a massive amount of evidence,

175
00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:04.000
over sixty four text messages as well as letters to

176
00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:09.240
the victim from Lindsey Whiteside that were so damning. Let's

177
00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:12.919
put it this way. They were written on church letterhead.

178
00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.320
Not a smart moved for this girl. Of course, after

179
00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:18.600
I tell you what occurred in this case, You're going

180
00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.960
to understand that she's not a great decision maker by

181
00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:26.759
any means. So they discovered that Lindsey Whiteside started grooming

182
00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:30.639
this kid when this kid was just fifteen years old.

183
00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:34.480
What's that mean? Well, you can ascertain that through these

184
00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:38.600
messages that they went through this sixty four thousand plus,

185
00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:43.879
Lindsey was positioning herself into a position of trust with

186
00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:48.159
this victim. These texts early on would start out simple enough,

187
00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:53.759
with the victim responding yes ma'am, no, ma'am, calling her

188
00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:00.120
miss Lindsey. It was a very professional relationship, if you will,

189
00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:07.440
and Lindsey would slowly get this kid to confide in her.

190
00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:11.679
I mean, this victim was no different than most fifteen

191
00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:17.039
year old girls. And look, I raised twin girls, and

192
00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.519
there's some drama with girls when they're fifteen. And this

193
00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:25.320
one she had her own personal struggles, especially as it

194
00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:29.600
relates to her mental health. She had some depression problems, etc.

195
00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.799
And she was leaning on Lindsey white Side a lot

196
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:40.399
about these problems and Lindsey Whiteside would take full advantage. Now,

197
00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:45.200
Lindsey at this point was nine years her senior. During

198
00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.600
this grooming stage, and as I said, she would take

199
00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:54.120
complete advantage over the fact that she was nine years

200
00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:58.840
her senior. In this early grooming period, she displayed nearly

201
00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:04.279
every indication of grooming Lindsey Whiteside, every indication that you

202
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:08.240
could have. First, she would build trust with this victim.

203
00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:12.159
This was displayed by the amount of attention that Lindsey

204
00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.799
was getting this child. She would flatter her by saying

205
00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:20.519
things such as, you know, you're my favorite, but don't

206
00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.720
tell anyone else because they'll get jealous. And that's another

207
00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:29.759
grooming technique. And that's called secrecy. By the way, when

208
00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.399
you act like you're giving when you're grooming someone and

209
00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.159
you're insinuating, hey, I'm gonna tell you things that nobody

210
00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:42.480
else knows, that's a grooming technique. Then that progresses to

211
00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:48.120
testing boundaries and she would start having very sexually explicit

212
00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:54.279
conversations over text with this kid, and she would also

213
00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.200
then move on to another grooming technique, which is isolation.

214
00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:02.519
Now it's important to mention that on church field trips,

215
00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:06.960
the one who determined these youth church field trips, the

216
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.840
one that determine where people would sleep, where they would

217
00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:12.840
sit on the bus, that was Lindsey Whiteside, and she

218
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.159
would isolate this kid on those bus trips to sit

219
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:22.600
next to her. And finally, when this kid turns sixteen,

220
00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:30.039
an outright, full blown sexual relationship starts. And let's talk

221
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.360
about that for a second, because laws are different from

222
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:38.159
state to state. Now, in Mississippi, it's true that the

223
00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:44.360
age of consent sixteen. However, it is also true that

224
00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.240
the law in the state of Mississippi, as it is

225
00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:50.360
in many other states, is that a person in a

226
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:55.840
position of trust or authority can be prosecuted if the

227
00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:01.039
victim is between the ages of sixteen and eight because

228
00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:06.360
they cannot consent, and consent loss can be tricky. For example,

229
00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:11.240
in my state of Louisiana, if you, the listener, goes

230
00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:15.080
out to a bar and you get legally drunk, and

231
00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.000
another individual goes into that bar, and let's say they

232
00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:22.919
end up hooking up with you, and let's say the

233
00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:27.639
listener gave that other individual the green light to have sex.

234
00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:34.720
Technically that other individual committed third degree rate because in

235
00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:39.679
the state of Louisiana, someone who is drunk cannot consent,

236
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.559
and in this case, regardless of age, why because they're

237
00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:48.039
drunk decision making is off. So even if they consented

238
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.320
by the letter of the law, they can't consent. You

239
00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:56.120
can go to jail for that. Now that's very rarely prosecuted,

240
00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.639
but we have a pretty big case here in the

241
00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.799
state of Louisiana right now that covers just that. So

242
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.519
consent laws can be tricky. So for all of you

243
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:10.519
out there that claim this was a two way relationship

244
00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:14.839
and this girl was all for it. Everything Lindsey was

245
00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:19.920
doing was approved, if you will, by this victim, you

246
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.519
need to learn consent laws. Because regardless of what this

247
00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:28.160
victim allowed, she could not legally allow it. She could

248
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:33.799
not legally consent according to Mississippi law. And this is

249
00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.759
to protect sixteen to eighteen year olds from being sexually

250
00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:45.599
battered by people such as teachers or preachers specifically. And

251
00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:49.000
you can throw law enforcement in there, anyone else with

252
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:53.799
perceived authority. So this predator, and I'm gonna call her

253
00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:01.119
a predator, Lindsey Whiteside, she would go to some there sickening,

254
00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:07.799
downright disgusting things to get this kid alone. She would

255
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.519
offer to babysit the younger kids at the home, and

256
00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:15.960
she would buy the parents concert tickets for example, which

257
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.079
she did on one occasion, and she would say, Hey,

258
00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:21.519
I got y'all these tickets. Y'all go have a night

259
00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.519
on the town, and I'm gonna watch your kids. And

260
00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:30.559
imagine for a second being these poor parents when you

261
00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:37.000
discover that this person you trusted, she was looked at

262
00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.920
at this point like family while you're out on a

263
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:46.519
rare night on the town, was at your home, essentially

264
00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:52.039
turning your daughter out. As they would say in prison.

265
00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:57.680
How awful these people must feel for something they really

266
00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:03.680
would have never expect from this sick chick. That is

267
00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:09.119
a disturbing level of manipulation. Now, in addition to that,

268
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:14.680
Lindsay was also as essentially the youth pastor of this church,

269
00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:18.200
responsible for a lot of things. And I already covered

270
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:22.480
she was responsible for where these kids would sit on

271
00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:25.559
a bus when they would travel on the church bus.

272
00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:29.680
And why is that important Because on one occasion, and

273
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.279
again to give you the best picture of how twisted

274
00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:39.279
this girl is, I'm not going to sugarcuat it. On

275
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:43.480
at least one occasion, while this kid is on the

276
00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:48.839
bus and this bus is full of other kids, it's

277
00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:55.519
full of other church leaders, this monster takes a blanket,

278
00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:01.759
puts it over this kid's legs and and fingerfucks her

279
00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:07.559
right there in the seat. And how do we know

280
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:12.799
this the text messages? And if that does not tell

281
00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:17.799
you how twisted this girl is, I don't know what

282
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.359
will into those that say, well, the age of consent

283
00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:27.039
in Mississippi is sixteen and she did not know the

284
00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:31.720
whole rule with position of authority aspect of that. To you,

285
00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:37.440
I say this, why are their text messages talking to

286
00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:43.440
the victim to quote make sure she deletes certain texts?

287
00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.400
Why are their messages telling the victim I can't message

288
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.480
you from the church computer because the church might call

289
00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:55.920
the police if they see what we're talking about. Now,

290
00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.440
I'll tell you why. It's because she knew what she

291
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:05.079
was doing was not only wrong, it is fucking illegal.

292
00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:12.559
In its tremendous proof for prosecutors in this case. And

293
00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:16.160
these incidents weren't a one off, not that that would

294
00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.359
make much of a difference, but they weren't a one off.

295
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:27.599
These were repeated over and over and over again, not

296
00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:32.640
just a one time thing. She would evolve and suggest

297
00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:39.559
alcohol to obviously try to lower this kid's good judgment. Now,

298
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.200
the district attorney in this case is a guy by

299
00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:45.599
the name of Matthew Barton, and you're gonna hear from

300
00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:48.279
him in a little while. And I gotta say, man,

301
00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:53.039
I like this guy. He has been saying lately what

302
00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:57.720
I have been saying for years on the Bad Teachers

303
00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:01.400
series that I bring you most on a weekly basis.

304
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.480
He said he had the goods and he was willing

305
00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:10.480
to go to trial, and he flat out refused to

306
00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:14.160
cut a deal with Lindsey Whiteside, and y'all, I have

307
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:20.160
covered thousands at this point of court cases throughout my

308
00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:25.400
career in podcasting. I cannot tell you how rare it

309
00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:29.319
is that a da not cut deals when he has

310
00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:35.200
the goods. And my biggest pet peeve in life as

311
00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:38.039
it comes to the court system is when you have

312
00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:44.000
all the evidence as a prosecutor and you still cut

313
00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:50.039
a deal. So Desato County hold on to this guy.

314
00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:56.359
He's a keeper. He fights for these victims. He doesn't

315
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.279
give up the form just to get a conviction.

316
00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:07.400
Shout out to him, Jim, did you see what happened

317
00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:08.160
in Texas today?

318
00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.880
Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you

319
00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:12.119
what happened in New York.

320
00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:14.079
It cannot be as crazy as the case I told

321
00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:16.000
you about yesterday in Louisiana, you.

322
00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:18.839
Know what, we should do a podcast.

323
00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.359
About it, And with that we did. Crime War Weekly

324
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:24.079
covers the crime news headlines that have dominated the week.

325
00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:27.759
We cover trending crimes from all over the country and

326
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:30.279
even sprinkle in a few globally.

327
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.160
Crime War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to

328
00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:34.720
your podcasts.

329
00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:37.880
Simply by searching Crime War Weekly or clicking the link

330
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:49.160
in the description of this podcast. So, in this particular case,

331
00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:54.599
Lindsey Whiteside, she knew she was screwed from the very beginning.

332
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.799
She knew that they had the goods if you will,

333
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.960
and the evidence, and she really couldn't fight the charges.

334
00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.200
She knew that a trial would for sure result in

335
00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.359
being found guilty. So she does something that I would

336
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:16.079
consider extremely rare in this judicial environment we have today,

337
00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:22.480
and she pleaded guilty without having a deal in place. Now,

338
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:29.279
her hope was the judge would be linging because she

339
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.839
is admitting to her crime. Right, she's taken responsibility. He's

340
00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:37.079
going to feel bad for her, and he's going to

341
00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:39.359
like the fact that she did that, and maybe he'd

342
00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:43.920
go easy on her. So on October thirteenth, just a

343
00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:46.839
week and a half ago or so, depending on when

344
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.079
you're listening to this. She has her day of sentencing

345
00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:55.920
now at this sentencing hearing, despite the fact that she

346
00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.240
is going to plead guilty, the prosecution, they are still

347
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.839
we allowed to present evidence and their allowed testimony. And

348
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.480
this is so the judge can have all that information

349
00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.039
when he imposes the sentence. And one of the people

350
00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:16.480
to testify was the victim herself. And I want to

351
00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:23.160
quote verbatim what Dia Barton said on another podcast, it's

352
00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.920
called the Local yokel Shout out to that guy. He

353
00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:30.160
helped me a lot with my research, and so I

354
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.119
definitely want to make sure I shout him out. Go

355
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:35.720
listen to him if you're interested. Local Yogal podcast. But

356
00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:38.920
he spoke on that podcast about the state of mind

357
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:43.279
of the victim on this sentencing day, as well as

358
00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:46.680
who this victim was as a person, which I found

359
00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:53.160
even more important. I think it's very important what he said,

360
00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:55.319
and I want you to hear it, so I'm going

361
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.880
to quote that for you. He said, we had the

362
00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:02.160
victim testify. She testified for almost an hour, and that's

363
00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:06.559
unbelievable strength that this young lady had This is the

364
00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:10.160
most brave girl I've ever met, so I told her

365
00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:12.599
before we went to court, I don't know how this

366
00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:16.000
is going to go. The judge can choose anything he

367
00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.160
wants technically, but you don't need a judge to pick

368
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:22.359
a number for you to feel good about yourself. This

369
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:26.880
girl shines brighter than the midday sun. You can tell

370
00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.160
when you sit down with her that she is. And

371
00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:33.000
then he starts to kind of get emotional, and he says,

372
00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:36.079
I'm sorry, I'm getting a little bit emotional. I feel

373
00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:38.960
attached to her and her family. But if you spend

374
00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:41.920
time with her, if you set across the table with her,

375
00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.880
she is a pure reflection of what is good on

376
00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:49.480
this earth. And she knows herself better than any other

377
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:53.519
eighteen year old possibly could because of what she's been through.

378
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.400
She's been to a dark place where she's had to

379
00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.440
find some sort of courage and strength in her deep

380
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:03.160
down that most people never have to dig that far

381
00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:06.759
to find. And that's how she became to know herself,

382
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:10.599
and that's how she now. She is now in touch

383
00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:14.079
with a strength that can never be taken away from her,

384
00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:17.599
and she is brave and you can tell she has

385
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:21.119
a strong relationship with Christ. I believe in Jesus. I'm

386
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:24.319
not the most spiritual or religious person, but I believe

387
00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:26.799
in Jesus, and I believe that it's only through His

388
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:31.240
grace that someone can become this strong. And I think

389
00:27:31.319 --> 00:27:34.559
she's found a victory in Jesus just by learning who

390
00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:37.880
she is and learning no one can stop her. I

391
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.200
honestly believe that there's nothing in this world that will

392
00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:44.599
ever stop her because of what she's ever come and

393
00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:47.160
the person that she's able to be because of it.

394
00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:51.480
She is loving, she is kind, and she is talented.

395
00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:55.880
She's interested in theater and art. She's very well spoken.

396
00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.720
She presents herself very well. She's very easy to talk to,

397
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:03.240
and she is very relatable. I think the thing that

398
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:05.559
is so great about her is if you have a

399
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:09.799
conversation with her, you'll almost immediately feel some sort of connection.

400
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:13.200
You meet certain people that are just kind of that way,

401
00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.440
and she's truly a very special person. And I'm very

402
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.880
proud of her because I've met so many people that

403
00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:23.720
can never do that. Most of the times my victims

404
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.960
begged not to have to speak, but she wanted to speak.

405
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.880
She had to face her accuser in court. She looked

406
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.680
her in the eyes and she said, you do not

407
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.319
have a hold on me anymore. And in that moment

408
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:40.079
I had chills all over my body because I felt

409
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:43.880
she was liberated from the control of this defendant had

410
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:46.359
on her. Now, I'm not saying this is not going

411
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.640
to affect her in the future. There's pain that you

412
00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.599
never get rid of. You just learn to put it

413
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.720
away somewhere, you learn healthy ways of coping. But she

414
00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.319
is liberating now because she spoke up for herself, even

415
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.920
though the system failed her with the sentence, she will

416
00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:07.720
not be held down by anybody. I told her after

417
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:10.279
it was over that I honestly feel like she is

418
00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:13.279
a rocket ship at a launching pad and about to

419
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:17.319
just take off straight up. The trajectory for this girl

420
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:20.440
is out of this world and I don't think anything

421
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:25.839
will slow her down. So that tells you a little

422
00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:29.359
bit about who this kid is now. After all that

423
00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:34.640
is done, after all this evidence is presented, and all

424
00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:38.799
these people have testified, and that's again so the judge

425
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:42.680
when he imposes his sentence, he'll have all the information

426
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:45.400
right And it's important to mention before I get to

427
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:50.400
the sentence. That the DA asked for thirty years, the

428
00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:55.839
victim asked for thirty years, and the victim's family asked

429
00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.160
for thirty years. This was all they all spoke to

430
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:00.759
the judge and set in an open core we want

431
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:06.400
thirty years. So the judge imposes his sentence and get

432
00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:11.799
ready for this. Lindsey Whitehead is sentenced to three years

433
00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:18.000
of house arrest followed by seven years of probation. All

434
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.880
that in spite of having the victim herself testify for

435
00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:26.720
almost an hour at the sentencing. Not a single day

436
00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:31.200
of jail time. And let me cover house arrest real quick.

437
00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:34.519
This ain't you're stuck at your house for three years.

438
00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:37.640
It doesn't mean that. It just means she has to

439
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:42.240
be home between ten pm and six am every night.

440
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.519
Other than that she can go pretty much anywhere except

441
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:50.400
a playground, live her life as if nothing ever happened,

442
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:53.559
have a job, all those sorts of things. She's just

443
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:55.960
got to be home between ten and six am. Now,

444
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.599
to Da Barton's credit, as I said, he asked for

445
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.559
the math them thirty years. And although some may say

446
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:06.119
that would have been a little bit too stiff of

447
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:09.920
an ask, I mean he's been a district attorney a while.

448
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:13.960
He's been an attorney a while, Yes, for forty. Typically

449
00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:20.759
you're really hoping for twenty, maybe ten, but zero, it's unprecedented. Now,

450
00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:25.720
a couple of things about Lindsey Whiteside's attorney in this

451
00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:30.519
case that I think are important. First, he's considered one

452
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:34.599
of the best attorneys in the entire South. His name

453
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:41.359
is Steve Faresi. And look, in my experience, I've known

454
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:45.440
a lot of attorneys of Italian descent and they are

455
00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:51.960
always good for whatever reason. Faresi is no different. So

456
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:56.359
the fact that he has allowed his client, this great

457
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.839
attorney that he is, he allows his client to enter

458
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:08.240
a guilty plea with no deal in place. That tells

459
00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:12.799
me I would suspect that this guy knew something. This

460
00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:16.359
is just my opinion. I have no direct evidence of this,

461
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.440
but I've covered enough of these types of cases to

462
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:26.839
know if you're that good of attorney, there's no way

463
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:31.480
you're just going to throw your client at the mercy

464
00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:35.720
of the court without knowing something. Relative to the sentencing

465
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:40.519
part of this case. This one just did not pass

466
00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:45.279
the smell tests. And it's worth noting that it is

467
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.359
also been said that the special judge in this case

468
00:32:50.119 --> 00:32:55.400
was Fares's divorce attorney. That's been said. I don't have

469
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.079
any direct evidence of that. This is just some things,

470
00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:01.359
some chatter, if you will, on thing Facebook, so take

471
00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:02.799
it with a grain of salt. I don't know if

472
00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:06.960
it's true or not, but if it is, wow, that's interesting. Right.

473
00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:10.599
And while we are on this particular subject, it's also

474
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:13.799
important to keep in mind the special judges in this

475
00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:17.640
case is as I mentioned earlier, they are retired. They

476
00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:21.599
are no longer elected officials. They do not have to

477
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:25.960
consider the impact of their decisions in the same way

478
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:32.920
unelected judge does. This judge can pass a bullshit sentence

479
00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:35.720
for example, like we have here, and I'm not afraid

480
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.119
to say it, that's a bullshit sentence. But they can

481
00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:42.400
pass that type of sentence and there's no re election

482
00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:45.559
concern in the back of their mind. Yes, when you're

483
00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:47.680
a judge, you're not supposed to have that anyway. I

484
00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:50.279
get that, But we are all human and when you're

485
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:53.720
worried about getting re elected in two years, you certainly

486
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:58.200
are a little bit more cautious on your decisions. Now,

487
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:02.039
I'm sure he can get removed from the bench by

488
00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:06.440
the State Supreme Court. But think about it if you're

489
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:11.079
in his position, So what he's retired, he just leases

490
00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:17.360
his side hustle essentially. Now, it's what came out after

491
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.920
this sentencing. If you ain't heard enough to piss you off,

492
00:34:21.559 --> 00:34:28.440
that has turned the entire County of DeSoto sideways, and

493
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:32.599
it's really launched this case nationally. And that is as

494
00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:36.880
it relates to the character letters that were written on

495
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:41.159
behalf of the convicted in this case, Lindsey Whiteside. Now,

496
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:45.280
as if the forty nine and you just heard me right,

497
00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:51.039
forty nine character letters were not enough, the fact of

498
00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:57.960
who they came from were even more shocking. Vice principal

499
00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:05.320
of a school, teachers, a former police chief that went

500
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:10.199
to church with Lindsay Whiteside. But the most shocking one

501
00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.360
came from a school board member, an active school board

502
00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:18.199
member in DeSoto County by the name of Michelle Henley,

503
00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:26.400
an elected official for the freaking school board, writing a

504
00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:33.159
character statement for someone accused then admitting guilt of sexual

505
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:36.920
battery of a child. And it has come out that

506
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:40.400
again I don't have any direct knowledge, but this has

507
00:35:40.440 --> 00:35:45.199
been said from the district attorney that she knew that

508
00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:49.000
Lindsay Whiteside was going to plead guilty, so she knew

509
00:35:49.079 --> 00:35:54.079
she did this. She wrote this letter anyway, Here's what

510
00:35:54.199 --> 00:35:58.559
it said. I'm going to read her character letter quickly

511
00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:03.440
says to Honorable Judge Andrew Howorth. My name is Michelle Henley.

512
00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:07.159
I'm a mother and member of the DeSoto County school Board.

513
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:12.559
I'm running on behalf writing on behalf of Lindsey Whiteside.

514
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:16.920
I have known the Whiteside family for many years. However,

515
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:19.599
in the past five years I've had the privilege of

516
00:36:19.639 --> 00:36:22.400
getting to know them better. Being on the school board,

517
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:25.800
I got to know Gail better as well as her children.

518
00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:29.239
Four years ago, I asked Gail if Lindsay would coach

519
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:32.760
my daughter in basketball because she wanted to try out

520
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:37.440
for middle school team. Lindsey gladly agreed. She worked one

521
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.639
on one with my daughter to practice and improve her skills.

522
00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:45.840
Lindsey was always encouraging, supportive, and helpful during their training sessions.

523
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:48.639
She gave my daughter pointers on how to improve her

524
00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:51.920
game while encouraging her every step of the way. When

525
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:54.719
my daughter made the team, we sent Lindsay a text

526
00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:57.559
to tell her, and she was so excited for my

527
00:36:57.719 --> 00:37:00.559
daughter and again encouraged her to keep working hard to

528
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.800
get better every day. Middle school can be hard for

529
00:37:03.880 --> 00:37:07.119
a young person, and I am happy to say Lindsey's

530
00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:11.280
encouragement and support helped my daughter not only make the team,

531
00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:15.519
but have a wonderful middle school experience. Thank you for

532
00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:21.679
your time and consideration. Michelle Henley, So, let's digest that

533
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:26.239
for a second. You got a freaking school board member

534
00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:31.639
going to bat for someone they knew was about to

535
00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:37.280
plead guilty to sexual battery of a child by someone

536
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:42.480
in position of authority. You reckon. The community got pissed,

537
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:49.599
Damn right they did. They flipped out, A firestorm erupts

538
00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:55.519
from the DeSoto County community and everybody from the district

539
00:37:55.519 --> 00:38:00.840
attorney to mom and pop were calling for the And

540
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:05.119
this just occurred a few days ago, the resignation of

541
00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:13.400
Michelle Henley. So, Michelle Henley, who has already shown a

542
00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:16.920
record of bad judgment with that letter, right, she does

543
00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:21.079
something else stupid. She goes on Facebook and she tries

544
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:26.280
to defend this. I'm going to read you the statement

545
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:31.960
she posted on Facebook on October fifteenth. Over the past

546
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.440
few days, there had been considerable discussion on social media

547
00:38:36.519 --> 00:38:40.599
regarding my character and involvement in a recent matter. In

548
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:43.840
a recent matter like just say it, you know what

549
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.559
it is, I would like to take a moment to

550
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:52.159
share the facts directly. Who tell us more? First, I

551
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:56.679
wrote a letter describing a personal interaction I have with

552
00:38:56.800 --> 00:38:59.880
Lindsey Whiteside. In that letter, I mentioned that Lindsey had

553
00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:04.760
coach my daughter prior to basketball trials. At no point

554
00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:09.599
did I express support for her actions or endorse her behavior.

555
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:13.519
For full transparency, I have attached a copy of my

556
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:17.440
letter for your review. Contrary to what has been claimed,

557
00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:21.639
I did not testify for the defense. I was subpoenaed

558
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:24.480
by the district attorney to appear in court. While on

559
00:39:24.519 --> 00:39:27.599
the stand, I was asked whether I condone Lend's exactions.

560
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:30.679
My response was no. When asked about what her senate

561
00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:34.360
should be, I stated that such a decision was for

562
00:39:34.440 --> 00:39:38.159
the judge to determine. De Soto County has been my

563
00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:41.320
home for nearly my entire life. I take great pride

564
00:39:41.400 --> 00:39:44.199
in our community and in the years of service I

565
00:39:44.199 --> 00:39:47.159
have dedicated to it. My integrity and commitment to the

566
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:53.039
people of Decetto County remain steadfast. Lady, you are full

567
00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:59.800
of shit. That's my opinion, my thought process, because for

568
00:39:59.880 --> 00:40:04.480
you you to say in this letter that at no

569
00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:07.719
point did I express support for her actions or endorse

570
00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:10.480
her behavior. What the hell do you think a character

571
00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:13.760
letter is? That's an endorsement. Of course, you didn't endorse

572
00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:19.039
her behavior directly as it affects this victim, but you

573
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:26.199
endorsed her. You endorsed her. Are you insane? One of

574
00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:33.960
the craziest, dumbest things I've ever seen in five years

575
00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:38.960
of doing this. So to that, I say this, Miss Henley,

576
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.360
I hope you're listening. I hope you're listening right now.

577
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:47.400
No one compelled to you to write a letter. You

578
00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:51.800
did that of your own volition. And the fact that

579
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:55.800
you would choose to write that letter despite the fact

580
00:40:56.159 --> 00:41:01.079
that you were elected to ensure the welfare of school

581
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:08.840
age students, speaks volumes about who you really are, in

582
00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:13.239
my opinion, and in my view, do the right thing. Resign.

583
00:41:14.199 --> 00:41:20.320
You have disgraced your community, and I think what you

584
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:29.559
did was sick a f We'll move on from her.

585
00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:35.280
So the day after the sentence, DA Barton, he is pissed.

586
00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:40.400
He comes out and he says, hey, I plan to

587
00:41:40.800 --> 00:41:46.440
challenge the ruling. Now, his argument is that under Mississippi law,

588
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:51.440
a sex offender, which Whiteside is, or violent offender for

589
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:56.039
that matter, cannot be sentenced to house arrest. Which that

590
00:41:56.239 --> 00:42:00.320
makes the sentence imposed even more questionable because he's right,

591
00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:05.320
that's clear in the law in Mississippi. So he's going

592
00:42:05.400 --> 00:42:09.760
to pursue that, and he is indeed going to be

593
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:14.639
seeking a resentencing, which this process is really kind of

594
00:42:14.679 --> 00:42:17.840
strange because to get a resentencing you have to go

595
00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:21.599
to the same judge and he has to approve and

596
00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:26.440
agree to resentence in this case Lindsy Whiteside. Now basically

597
00:42:26.920 --> 00:42:30.519
he has to admit he screwed up and thus re

598
00:42:30.760 --> 00:42:36.719
sentence Lendsy Whiteside using the reasoning that caused him to

599
00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:43.239
rethink his decision, such as in this case. The prosecutor stated,

600
00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:47.960
he's already filed this resentencing request that the crime is

601
00:42:48.119 --> 00:42:53.599
disproportionate to the sentence, and hey, you'll get no argument

602
00:42:53.639 --> 00:42:57.440
out of me on that. It's about as disproportionate as

603
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:01.079
you can get. And look, this judge has a history here,

604
00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:04.480
he has some precedent that he set on how he

605
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:08.039
sentences people involved in these crimes. And I'll tell you

606
00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:11.000
another thing, and then we're gonna get to the DA's

607
00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:14.679
press conference, because that's very important for you to hear.

608
00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:17.000
In this press conference. One thing I do want to

609
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:20.440
mention is man he and I are on the same

610
00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:23.239
frame of mind, because he says something in that press

611
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:29.679
conference relative to if this were a guy that had

612
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:36.599
sexually assaulted this girl, he hadn went to prison, and

613
00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:40.880
that we've got to get rid of this double standard

614
00:43:41.199 --> 00:43:46.239
when females commit these egregious acts. He is one hundred

615
00:43:46.239 --> 00:43:48.880
percent on it. That's why I've done a series for

616
00:43:48.920 --> 00:43:53.400
the past two years called Bad Teachers on exposed scandalous

617
00:43:53.400 --> 00:43:56.320
files of the elite. I do that specifically, and I

618
00:43:56.480 --> 00:44:02.400
cover specifically women who are sexually assaulting. Most times its boys.

619
00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:05.000
And the reason that I do that is, you know what,

620
00:44:05.360 --> 00:44:09.800
they must never get jail time, almost never, or if

621
00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:14.239
they do, they screwed a fifteen year old boy and

622
00:44:14.280 --> 00:44:18.039
it's a forty year old teacher for you know, four

623
00:44:18.199 --> 00:44:22.840
years in high school and they get a year in jail.

624
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:25.400
But when you flip it and you look at the stats,

625
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:29.159
when men do it, they get twenty thirty years almost

626
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:37.360
every time. It's shocking how disproportionate it is, so I

627
00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:40.719
save this press conference for the end of this one,

628
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:43.719
and it's because I likely have a lot of people

629
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:50.119
from Deceto County specifically listening to this particular podcast, maybe

630
00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:52.920
the first time you've ever heard exposed scandalous files of

631
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:55.760
the elite. I do want to say we've got over

632
00:44:55.800 --> 00:45:00.440
two hundred episodes besides this one on this feed. Listen

633
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.159
to some other ones. If you liked it, stay with us.

634
00:45:03.199 --> 00:45:06.400
We love to have you here. But I know a

635
00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:09.840
lot of you have already heard the press conference. If

636
00:45:09.880 --> 00:45:12.119
you're in DeSoto County, you've certainly heard it. So I

637
00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:16.199
wanted to save it for the end so that you

638
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:21.159
didn't have to fast forward through a thirty minute press conference. Now,

639
00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:23.519
I do want to say quickly to those of you

640
00:45:23.719 --> 00:45:29.119
in DeSoto County, keep up the fight, don't let this stand.

641
00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:32.440
And if you like the podcast, stick around. We expose

642
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:35.280
people from all over the country every week on here,

643
00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:39.440
and they go global quickly. And if you see Da

644
00:45:39.800 --> 00:45:44.039
Barton around town, shake his hand from me, tell him

645
00:45:44.039 --> 00:45:48.440
it's from me. He's doing great work for everyone else.

646
00:45:48.599 --> 00:45:53.519
What you're going to hear next is the explosive press

647
00:45:53.599 --> 00:45:58.920
conference following the verdict from da Barton. So here's that

648
00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:03.440
and till the next episode. Much love.

649
00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:07.880
Okay has everybody turned on ready to go? I figure,

650
00:46:07.960 --> 00:46:09.679
so y'all are waiting for a little bit. I appreciate

651
00:46:09.719 --> 00:46:15.199
you waiting. In cases this streaming somewhere, I will warn

652
00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:19.760
audience this subject matter may not be suitable for everybody.

653
00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:24.440
But today we're announcing the conviction of Lindsay Whiteside, who

654
00:46:25.239 --> 00:46:29.519
has now been found guilty of sexual battery while in

655
00:46:29.559 --> 00:46:32.599
a position of trust and authority over a minor child.

656
00:46:33.079 --> 00:46:35.840
This stems from her time as a youth pastor at

657
00:46:36.119 --> 00:46:40.239
Getwell Baptist Church in Hernando. The victim in this case

658
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:45.960
was a member of that youth group and that is

659
00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:50.880
what created the opportunity for this repeated sexual abuse of

660
00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:57.639
a child. Procedurally, the way we got here is in

661
00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:06.440
November of twenty twenty four, these accusations were disclosed to

662
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:10.000
the Sheriff's apartment here in De Soto County. They were

663
00:47:10.119 --> 00:47:15.400
investigated right away. Our office was able to secure an

664
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:19.239
indictment in less than a month after the investigation started.

665
00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:23.639
The case that was put together was very, very good,

666
00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:26.599
maybe the strongest you could hope for in a situation

667
00:47:26.800 --> 00:47:31.800
like this. We had sixty four thousand pages of printed

668
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:35.000
out text messages, we had handwritten letters that were on

669
00:47:35.119 --> 00:47:39.519
church stationery. We had just a mountain of evidence. It

670
00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:43.400
was overwhelming proof. There was no way Lindsey Whiteside would

671
00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:46.079
have ever been able to get out from under the

672
00:47:46.119 --> 00:47:50.079
pile of evidence. So she did ultimately plead guilty, knowing

673
00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:56.079
that a trial would be it would not be a

674
00:47:56.079 --> 00:47:59.760
worthwhile endeavor. So she played guilty really out of necessity,

675
00:48:00.079 --> 00:48:05.079
had no chance of going to trial. We did that

676
00:48:05.239 --> 00:48:11.239
earlier today. That was immediately followed by sentencing hearing. We

677
00:48:11.559 --> 00:48:13.679
as a state of Mississippi, and on behalf of the

678
00:48:13.760 --> 00:48:19.360
victims requested the maximum sentence, which is thirty years, And

679
00:48:19.559 --> 00:48:23.079
I don't mind just saying it, frankly, I'm extremely disappointed.

680
00:48:24.159 --> 00:48:26.800
This sentence ended up being three years of house arrest

681
00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:30.280
followed by seven years of post release supervision, for a

682
00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:35.079
total of ten years of supervision. This sentence is an

683
00:48:35.119 --> 00:48:39.039
absolute abomination of justice. It is not right. Is everything

684
00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:42.599
is wrong. This is the reason why people question whether

685
00:48:42.679 --> 00:48:46.760
our institutions actually serve victims. This is the wrong message.

686
00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:50.519
It is very, very difficult for a victim of a crime,

687
00:48:50.639 --> 00:48:53.599
especially a child to come forward and then to have

688
00:48:53.679 --> 00:48:59.599
her voice silenced by a hor horrible sentence. Miscarriage of

689
00:48:59.719 --> 00:49:04.159
justice makes it even more difficult for future victims to

690
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:06.800
want to come forward and be brave. I want to

691
00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:10.760
commend the victim in this case and her family. I've

692
00:49:11.960 --> 00:49:15.880
rarely seen such a display of courage and faith, and

693
00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:20.440
I consider it one of the privileges and honors of

694
00:49:20.440 --> 00:49:24.199
my career so far to have represented them in this process.

695
00:49:24.679 --> 00:49:28.320
I am very disappointed that we did not get a

696
00:49:28.440 --> 00:49:31.639
result that I think was appropriate, but I am very

697
00:49:31.639 --> 00:49:34.199
proud that our victim did what she was supposed to

698
00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:36.920
and that would speak up for herself. And even though

699
00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:41.639
we did not get the result we wanted, that will

700
00:49:41.679 --> 00:49:44.840
never be taken away. Lindsey Whiteside will have to register

701
00:49:44.920 --> 00:49:48.639
for the rest of her life as a child's sex offender,

702
00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:51.960
which would hopefully be a mark to show society that

703
00:49:52.039 --> 00:49:54.320
she is the worst type of menace that can never

704
00:49:54.400 --> 00:49:58.199
be trusted. She was trusted with a congregation, she was

705
00:49:58.239 --> 00:50:02.039
trusted with children, and she trade that trust. She used

706
00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:05.320
the Gospel Jesus Christ as a weapon. She used the

707
00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:08.679
vulnerabilities of a child who was going through personal struggles

708
00:50:08.840 --> 00:50:13.400
to gain access and manipulate an entire congregation. But even

709
00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:18.760
worse and more specifically, she manipulated a family through an

710
00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:23.760
undeniable pattern of abuse that started with several months of

711
00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:27.960
grooming and in several months of prolonged and repeated sexual

712
00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:33.519
abuse in the worst type of manner. I cannot summarize

713
00:50:33.599 --> 00:50:37.119
the entirety of this abuse, and a short press conference

714
00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:41.280
suffice it to say, I sincerely believe that if this

715
00:50:41.800 --> 00:50:45.760
was perpetrated by a man against a young woman, that

716
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:49.519
we would have seen something akin to twenty years in prison.

717
00:50:49.920 --> 00:50:53.360
I think that she is a benefactor of a very

718
00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.760
wrong double standard in society. I think that it is

719
00:50:56.880 --> 00:50:59.519
high time for people to start paying attention to what

720
00:50:59.559 --> 00:51:03.199
goes on our court systems, because this is an absolute travesty.

721
00:51:03.679 --> 00:51:06.880
It is not right. I condemn it in every way.

722
00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:10.079
I am quite frankly somewhat ashamed to be associated with

723
00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:13.559
a system that has performed so poorly in this matter.

724
00:51:14.119 --> 00:51:19.480
We have advocated as zealously as we possibly could, we

725
00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:22.719
put forth as much evidence as we could have ever

726
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:27.360
hoped for, and this decision is quite frankly just poor.

727
00:51:29.239 --> 00:51:33.559
With that said, I am very honored to be joined

728
00:51:33.559 --> 00:51:37.360
by a member of our victim's family. Her name is

729
00:51:37.400 --> 00:51:41.199
Pam Pegram. She has prepared a statement that she would

730
00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:43.800
like to share on behalf of the victim. It is

731
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:46.880
my belief that victims should always be heard, and so

732
00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:53.320
I am sincerely proud to turn it over to her

733
00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:56.320
for a moment to share something on behalf of the family.

734
00:51:58.760 --> 00:52:02.280
Thank you, thank you. My name is Pam Pegram and

735
00:52:02.360 --> 00:52:04.719
I'm speaking on behalf of the victim's family.

736
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:05.880
It's my family.

737
00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:11.960
Today, a very brave young girl showed remarkable courage as

738
00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:15.599
she shared about the abuse she suffered from a sexual predator,

739
00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:21.079
Lindsey Aldie Whiteside. This vulnerable child was manipulated and betrayed

740
00:52:21.159 --> 00:52:26.119
by someone more than nine years older than her, who

741
00:52:26.159 --> 00:52:29.760
was supposed to be her spiritual mentor someone who grossly

742
00:52:29.880 --> 00:52:33.840
abused her position of trust, someone she looked up to

743
00:52:34.119 --> 00:52:38.480
as her youth minister. The evidence presented today was vile,

744
00:52:39.039 --> 00:52:43.559
it was evil, and quite honestly, it was shocking. How

745
00:52:43.599 --> 00:52:46.360
could anyone do things like she did to a young

746
00:52:46.440 --> 00:52:50.360
girl and then show up sometimes to preach at church

747
00:52:50.400 --> 00:52:54.480
on Sunday morning, sometimes to lead a Bible study, sometimes

748
00:52:54.599 --> 00:52:58.079
to lead a youth retreat or a youth event after

749
00:52:58.159 --> 00:53:02.480
knowing what she had just done. Today, in Lindsey Whiteside's

750
00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:06.400
own words, through her text messages and her letters, we

751
00:53:06.480 --> 00:53:11.239
saw the depth of depravity, deceit, and deliberate efforts to

752
00:53:11.360 --> 00:53:15.559
hide her twisted actions. The pain of the suffering this

753
00:53:15.679 --> 00:53:20.320
victim and her family have experienced or beyond words, this

754
00:53:20.480 --> 00:53:24.760
trauma has touched every part of their lives. Yet it

755
00:53:24.840 --> 00:53:29.599
does not define this victim or her family. As believers,

756
00:53:29.639 --> 00:53:32.639
we know that God will redeem what has been lost,

757
00:53:33.079 --> 00:53:36.199
and He will use this devastating season to grow us

758
00:53:36.920 --> 00:53:41.760
and strengthen us and draw us closer to Him. For

759
00:53:41.880 --> 00:53:47.599
almost a year, our family has remained silent, waiting for

760
00:53:47.679 --> 00:53:52.000
this day when truth could finally be revealed. During that time,

761
00:53:52.320 --> 00:53:57.039
we have heard the rumors, we have read the comments,

762
00:53:57.599 --> 00:54:01.039
and we have listened to people's opinion who did not

763
00:54:01.199 --> 00:54:04.639
have any of the facts or any information to base

764
00:54:04.800 --> 00:54:10.239
those on. That has only deepened our pain. Let me

765
00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:16.960
be clear, no adult should ever engage in sexual contact

766
00:54:17.519 --> 00:54:22.039
with a child. In no way, shape or form. The

767
00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:25.920
victim is never at fault. This adult could have any

768
00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:31.960
time said mom helped me, pastor help me, friend, help me.

769
00:54:32.719 --> 00:54:36.679
She never did. She plotted, and she planned, and she deceived,

770
00:54:36.760 --> 00:54:40.079
and she manipulated so that she could have her way.

771
00:54:41.079 --> 00:54:48.119
When you support this offender, you revictimize the victim, y'all.

772
00:54:48.119 --> 00:54:53.599
This is why victims don't come forward and tell their story. Still,

773
00:54:53.639 --> 00:54:56.960
her family, we will stand firm in our faith. We

774
00:54:57.000 --> 00:55:01.000
believe in truth, justice, and even forgiveness. But can I

775
00:55:01.039 --> 00:55:04.599
tell you forgiveness is hard, It is challenging, and it

776
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:08.039
may be a day by day decision that we work

777
00:55:08.079 --> 00:55:12.199
our way toward. Now that Lindsay has been found guilty,

778
00:55:12.280 --> 00:55:16.320
I really wanted to say that justice had been served. That, y'all,

779
00:55:16.320 --> 00:55:19.400
it has not been served. She gets to go home

780
00:55:19.679 --> 00:55:22.800
and put on her favorite pajamas and cuddle up in

781
00:55:22.880 --> 00:55:26.639
her favorite chair and hang out in her safe place

782
00:55:27.280 --> 00:55:31.800
where she entered into our family's safe place and destroyed

783
00:55:31.800 --> 00:55:35.440
that it became a place where she pursued the victim.

784
00:55:36.119 --> 00:55:36.960
How is this fair?

785
00:55:37.039 --> 00:55:37.800
How is this right?

786
00:55:37.880 --> 00:55:41.559
And the judge said that prison was for people that

787
00:55:41.599 --> 00:55:45.760
we're afraid of, y'all. Isn't prison a place for people

788
00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:50.079
who commit crimes, regardless of what they look like and

789
00:55:50.119 --> 00:55:52.800
regardless of whether you know to be afraid of them

790
00:55:52.960 --> 00:55:57.480
or not. I mean, like Matthew said it would have

791
00:55:57.519 --> 00:56:01.280
been so different had the offender looked different. Can we

792
00:56:01.360 --> 00:56:05.480
all agree? Oh? But I have to say, for those

793
00:56:05.519 --> 00:56:09.079
of you who have prayed for us, for those of

794
00:56:09.119 --> 00:56:14.000
you who have supported our family during this horrific time,

795
00:56:14.440 --> 00:56:21.960
we are forever grateful and we appreciate you you. Yes,

796
00:56:23.239 --> 00:56:26.719
my name is Pam Pegrom p a em last name

797
00:56:26.760 --> 00:56:26.960
is p.

798
00:56:27.159 --> 00:56:28.760
E g r A M.

799
00:56:29.960 --> 00:56:30.320
Thank you.

800
00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:37.320
So with that, I would just add briefly before I

801
00:56:37.360 --> 00:56:43.679
taken questions that it is true that when you support

802
00:56:44.440 --> 00:56:53.760
the abuser, you revictimize the victim, and for that that's

803
00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:56.360
part of the reason why I was so disturbed by

804
00:56:56.400 --> 00:57:01.199
the amount of pedophile sympathizers that wrote into the court,

805
00:57:01.599 --> 00:57:06.440
and specifically, Michelle Henley is an elective member of our

806
00:57:06.480 --> 00:57:10.880
school board. Our victim at the time was a student

807
00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:13.199
at one of the schools that Michelle Henley is supposed

808
00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:16.639
to help govern, and yet she wrote a letter in

809
00:57:16.719 --> 00:57:22.000
support of the defendant that she testified on behalf of

810
00:57:22.039 --> 00:57:25.280
the defendant's good character, which I submit, there is no

811
00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:28.360
good character to somebody that would sexually abuse a child.

812
00:57:28.559 --> 00:57:30.320
That I don't care how much good you've done in

813
00:57:30.320 --> 00:57:34.480
the world, if it's followed up by committing a repeated

814
00:57:34.800 --> 00:57:38.639
sexual act against a child. This is somebody that was

815
00:57:38.760 --> 00:57:44.480
not victim of an overwhelming moment or a temporary lapse

816
00:57:44.519 --> 00:57:48.199
in judgment. This is more akin to an adult lioness

817
00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:54.360
stalking prey and then pouncing when it was least expected,

818
00:57:54.639 --> 00:57:56.960
and then continuing to do so over and over again.

819
00:57:57.320 --> 00:58:02.480
Lindsey Whiteside committed second ual crimes against this victim while

820
00:58:02.559 --> 00:58:07.559
on church trips while in while on a bus with

821
00:58:07.800 --> 00:58:11.400
other kids, put a blanket over the victim, and then

822
00:58:11.480 --> 00:58:14.719
sexually abused her while in the presence of church leadership

823
00:58:14.960 --> 00:58:18.239
and other children, and then preached about Jesus. We're talking

824
00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:24.079
about that manner of depravity. It's awful because Michelle Henley

825
00:58:24.199 --> 00:58:27.960
is in a position of authority and trust over children

826
00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:33.000
and yet sides with a child predator. I believe she's

827
00:58:33.039 --> 00:58:35.400
not fit to be on our school board. I've given

828
00:58:35.440 --> 00:58:38.599
her a letter today demanding her resignation, and I hope

829
00:58:38.639 --> 00:58:41.239
she will because we can have no faith in an

830
00:58:41.280 --> 00:58:45.559
institution that protects child predators. We cannot expect children who

831
00:58:45.599 --> 00:58:49.079
are victims of crime to tell their teachers or administrators

832
00:58:49.079 --> 00:58:52.159
that they have been victimized. When an elected member of

833
00:58:52.159 --> 00:58:58.079
the school board is advocating for a known convicted sexual

834
00:58:58.239 --> 00:59:04.440
predator is inexcusable. She has shown tolerance where there can

835
00:59:04.480 --> 00:59:07.440
be none. She's got to go and quite frankly, any

836
00:59:07.519 --> 00:59:11.960
teacher or vice principals that wrote in on support they

837
00:59:11.960 --> 00:59:14.559
should likewise be gone. I would never send my kid

838
00:59:14.639 --> 00:59:18.119
to an institution where the adults in the room were

839
00:59:18.119 --> 00:59:21.480
not taking care of the kids, period, full stop. With

840
00:59:21.599 --> 00:59:25.400
that being said, now my tangent is over. I will

841
00:59:25.400 --> 00:59:27.599
take any questions you may have, yes and back.

842
00:59:27.800 --> 00:59:29.679
Martin Stein Fox thirteen.

843
00:59:30.400 --> 00:59:33.639
So what struck me when I got to the courthouse

844
00:59:33.679 --> 00:59:36.400
today was the level of security.

845
00:59:37.320 --> 00:59:39.039
When I googled what.

846
00:59:38.920 --> 00:59:42.599
This story was about, it didn't tell me that there

847
00:59:42.599 --> 00:59:46.800
were two signs in terms of people supporting the defendant

848
00:59:47.039 --> 00:59:48.639
people supporting the family.

849
00:59:48.760 --> 00:59:50.079
Can you talk about.

850
00:59:49.920 --> 00:59:55.199
Why that I counted thirteen debuties.

851
00:59:54.760 --> 00:59:55.280
In the book.

852
00:59:55.519 --> 00:59:59.800
Yeah, I think the divide comes from a lot of

853
01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:05.679
people and get well. Church leadership and members have offered

854
01:00:05.719 --> 01:00:08.159
a great deal of support for the perpetrator who used

855
01:00:08.199 --> 01:00:13.079
to work and worship among them. Then you have the

856
01:00:13.159 --> 01:00:16.960
defendant's family were lifelong educators, so they have friends in

857
01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:20.639
the school system. They called upon those friends to write

858
01:00:20.719 --> 01:00:24.440
letters of support. And so we have this great divide

859
01:00:24.480 --> 01:00:28.119
that's hard to reconcile, where you have church people and

860
01:00:28.199 --> 01:00:33.199
school people supporting a perpetrator for a child crime, and

861
01:00:34.320 --> 01:00:38.280
that will certainly draw out the type of emotions you

862
01:00:38.320 --> 01:00:43.920
would expect. So as a precautionary measure, certain things were

863
01:00:43.920 --> 01:00:46.119
put into place for security purposes.

864
01:00:47.199 --> 01:00:52.000
And I was gonna say, and the other thing that

865
01:00:52.119 --> 01:00:54.440
struck me is before the judge what was his name?

866
01:00:54.679 --> 01:00:57.840
His name is Andy Howorth. And the backstory there is

867
01:00:58.159 --> 01:01:01.119
Judge Wilson and Judge Chad, who were the only two

868
01:01:01.199 --> 01:01:03.519
judges we had at the time this case was indicted.

869
01:01:03.920 --> 01:01:10.679
Both recused themselves, stating that they had personal relationships with

870
01:01:10.840 --> 01:01:14.639
the defendants family or shared community interest, which would be

871
01:01:14.719 --> 01:01:19.199
church basically. And so because both of our judges recused themselves,

872
01:01:19.360 --> 01:01:21.840
we were then left with the liberal judge from Oxford

873
01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:24.480
who thinks that child predator shouldn't go to prison because

874
01:01:24.519 --> 01:01:25.639
he's not scared of them.

875
01:01:26.199 --> 01:01:32.039
And he also said that nobody's gonna be happy.

876
01:01:32.360 --> 01:01:33.719
But I don't think that's quite true.

877
01:01:33.840 --> 01:01:41.519
No, I actually saw the defendant looking relieved. I heard

878
01:01:41.679 --> 01:01:44.760
some rumblings from her side the room where they were

879
01:01:44.760 --> 01:01:47.480
actually very happy. This is exactly what they asked for.

880
01:01:47.599 --> 01:01:50.559
So they are very happy because she will get to

881
01:01:50.599 --> 01:01:53.519
go to the same restaurants that you and your families

882
01:01:53.559 --> 01:01:57.920
go to. She will continue to have access to people's kids,

883
01:01:58.480 --> 01:02:01.400
and she will live her life life as she always does,

884
01:02:01.599 --> 01:02:04.880
as long as she registers. When it came down you.

885
01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.199
Talk about disappointment, was there anger or raise as well?

886
01:02:12.719 --> 01:02:16.599
So? I typically don't criticize a choice that a judge makes,

887
01:02:16.599 --> 01:02:20.199
and I certainly would never criticize a jury. In this case,

888
01:02:20.639 --> 01:02:24.239
we have a judge that acknowledged great harm being done

889
01:02:24.239 --> 01:02:26.400
to the victim and then essentially did nothing about it,

890
01:02:26.440 --> 01:02:30.639
And so it would be it'd be a little self

891
01:02:30.679 --> 01:02:32.719
serving for me to pretend like I don't have a

892
01:02:32.719 --> 01:02:38.079
little rage or anger. I certainly do. I think the

893
01:02:38.119 --> 01:02:41.599
broader problem is the implication a sentence like this has

894
01:02:41.639 --> 01:02:45.960
on on the community, because you can't how are you

895
01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:50.679
gonna trust the system that that lays down for a

896
01:02:50.719 --> 01:02:53.880
perpetrator like this. So I know we had a question

897
01:02:53.960 --> 01:02:58.559
here in the there. Okay, yes, at the age you

898
01:02:58.559 --> 01:03:00.679
ask for a sentence for you see get under a

899
01:03:00.719 --> 01:03:04.920
whole sentence, So we do not have the option for

900
01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:08.199
any type of appeals or sentenced reviews. When a circuit

901
01:03:08.320 --> 01:03:11.239
judge makes a decision, that's just the decision. That's why

902
01:03:11.280 --> 01:03:13.960
elections are so important, because voters are the only person

903
01:03:14.320 --> 01:03:16.679
or the only people that have any sort of oversight

904
01:03:16.760 --> 01:03:20.000
on a circuit judge. The best I can do, and

905
01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:23.719
it's a little early for me to really be able

906
01:03:23.719 --> 01:03:26.519
to give any indication whether it would help, but I

907
01:03:26.599 --> 01:03:29.880
do plan on taking my case, filowing the transcripts to

908
01:03:29.960 --> 01:03:33.559
the federal prosecutors, letting them know what a horrible mischaracter

909
01:03:33.760 --> 01:03:36.719
justice this was, and see if, based on the fact

910
01:03:36.760 --> 01:03:39.840
that she crossed multiple state lines to do this type

911
01:03:39.880 --> 01:03:42.559
of offense, and other jurisdictions, if we may be able

912
01:03:42.599 --> 01:03:46.679
to get her prosecuted through a neighboring jurisdiction or maybe

913
01:03:46.679 --> 01:03:49.000
our partners in the federal government. I will certainly do

914
01:03:49.039 --> 01:03:53.199
everything I can to advocate for my victim, no matter

915
01:03:53.239 --> 01:03:57.039
what juncture the proceedings we are. I can't personally prosecute

916
01:03:57.079 --> 01:04:00.880
or appeal anything, but I will certainly appeal to prosecutors

917
01:04:00.880 --> 01:04:04.800
and other jurisdictions, share evidence and plead for them to

918
01:04:04.800 --> 01:04:08.639
pick this up so hopefully she'll be properly punished. Let

919
01:04:08.679 --> 01:04:09.440
me go here.

920
01:04:10.159 --> 01:04:12.400
I just wanted to ask, you know, we were supposed.

921
01:04:12.039 --> 01:04:14.480
To start at one point. Was there anything in the

922
01:04:14.559 --> 01:04:19.280
court rook that got up smaller than I think? Maybe

923
01:04:19.280 --> 01:04:23.280
there were more people coming in than we're maybe expected,

924
01:04:23.400 --> 01:04:25.719
so they're given some time for that to settle off.

925
01:04:26.840 --> 01:04:30.440
Judge wanted to address the media about certain rules for

926
01:04:30.559 --> 01:04:33.480
recording before we began. We did not bring the victim

927
01:04:33.519 --> 01:04:36.159
or her family into the courtroom until after the judge

928
01:04:37.039 --> 01:04:40.599
had a chance to make that address, and so there

929
01:04:40.599 --> 01:04:43.320
were a few little housekeeping things that slowed us down.

930
01:04:44.480 --> 01:04:45.400
But that's about it.

931
01:04:46.159 --> 01:04:48.559
If you could sit down in a room with miss Whiteside,

932
01:04:48.599 --> 01:04:49.559
what would you say to her.

933
01:04:54.639 --> 01:05:04.199
I think she's such as narcissistic, feelative person that there's

934
01:05:04.239 --> 01:05:07.079
probably nothing I could say they would even register with her.

935
01:05:07.360 --> 01:05:10.920
As we stood there today, she was making excuses for herself.

936
01:05:11.119 --> 01:05:14.119
She was downplaying what she did. I don't think she

937
01:05:14.199 --> 01:05:17.519
fully even gets it. She is so self absorbed that

938
01:05:18.079 --> 01:05:22.519
speaking to her would only it would only fuel her

939
01:05:22.559 --> 01:05:26.960
own desire for attention. She wants to be special, she

940
01:05:27.039 --> 01:05:31.559
wants to have attention from a congregation or social media whatever.

941
01:05:31.800 --> 01:05:35.119
But she's not special. She's just a child. Predator. She

942
01:05:35.480 --> 01:05:39.480
is notorious at best, and she will not be remembered

943
01:05:39.519 --> 01:05:42.880
for her father's legacy. She will not be remembered for

944
01:05:44.039 --> 01:05:48.679
any contributions her family made to education. She will be

945
01:05:48.760 --> 01:05:52.159
remembered for what she is, and that is a child's

946
01:05:52.159 --> 01:05:55.079
sexual predator. And I will tell you there's nothing good

947
01:05:55.119 --> 01:05:58.599
about someone who will prey upon a child. That's what

948
01:05:58.679 --> 01:06:01.960
she'll be remembered. And she's not worth anyone's time, much

949
01:06:02.039 --> 01:06:09.320
less mind the victim recently turned eighteen. I'm not personally

950
01:06:09.360 --> 01:06:09.960
gonna do it.

951
01:06:11.480 --> 01:06:14.280
Do you think that her families, like you said, you know,

952
01:06:14.639 --> 01:06:17.760
the status, had anythings dow with maybe the moving today.

953
01:06:18.599 --> 01:06:20.320
I think the fact that our judge is from an

954
01:06:20.360 --> 01:06:23.679
outside jurisdiction probably limits the amount of effect that that

955
01:06:24.760 --> 01:06:27.960
could have. I think he had his own reasonings. I

956
01:06:27.960 --> 01:06:30.840
don't pretend to understand him. I'm not so sure that

957
01:06:31.000 --> 01:06:33.440
is the reasoning, but I will say that when you

958
01:06:33.599 --> 01:06:37.880
have educated you have letters from nine teachers, you had

959
01:06:37.960 --> 01:06:41.000
a letter from a vice principal out of school, and

960
01:06:41.039 --> 01:06:44.559
you had a letter from an elected member of the

961
01:06:44.559 --> 01:06:47.920
school board. And so when you and then you got

962
01:06:48.239 --> 01:06:53.159
many people from the church where she perpetrated these crimes,

963
01:06:53.519 --> 01:06:58.519
also sending letters to the judge, so he probably felt

964
01:06:58.559 --> 01:07:02.920
safe making this decision. But I can't really speak to

965
01:07:02.960 --> 01:07:05.320
exactly what's in his mind. I can't speak to what's

966
01:07:05.360 --> 01:07:09.559
in my mind, which is this is not right, plain

967
01:07:09.639 --> 01:07:11.199
and simple. There's no other way to put it. This

968
01:07:11.320 --> 01:07:13.679
is just not right. I'll take one more question, third one.

969
01:07:13.800 --> 01:07:17.960
I heard him say that he that prisons are for

970
01:07:18.119 --> 01:07:22.039
people that scare us. He literally said from the bench,

971
01:07:22.800 --> 01:07:28.280
this woman Whiteside doesn't scare him. That kind of scares me.

972
01:07:28.599 --> 01:07:33.519
Well, I think that my child is growing up here

973
01:07:33.800 --> 01:07:36.559
in Desutto County. It's where I chose to raise a family.

974
01:07:38.519 --> 01:07:43.519
People like Lindsay Whiteside scare me. They're not gonna be

975
01:07:43.559 --> 01:07:46.239
able to do anything to me personally because I'm older

976
01:07:46.239 --> 01:07:50.079
than she is, I'm stronger than she is. But I

977
01:07:50.119 --> 01:07:53.079
think about my children, my child and the children that

978
01:07:53.159 --> 01:07:57.280
she plays with, and I'm really worried for people that

979
01:07:57.400 --> 01:07:59.880
aren't as guarded as I am, because I see this

980
01:08:00.079 --> 01:08:03.360
every day. Most people don't, and it's the people you

981
01:08:03.400 --> 01:08:06.119
don't expect. It's the church pastor, it's the teacher, it's

982
01:08:06.119 --> 01:08:10.400
the coach or whatever, and so yeah, people like her.

983
01:08:10.440 --> 01:08:13.159
It's a very scary part of our society. I don't

984
01:08:13.159 --> 01:08:15.800
know if you're just envisioning, but I come here all

985
01:08:15.840 --> 01:08:18.800
the time. Y'all hear me. I say stop Memphis saved

986
01:08:18.800 --> 01:08:23.159
de Soto. I'm very critical of Memphis criminals that come

987
01:08:23.239 --> 01:08:26.079
down here and perpetrate violent crime. I talk about all

988
01:08:26.079 --> 01:08:29.600
the time. You don't have to look like that or

989
01:08:29.640 --> 01:08:32.680
act like that to be an absolute menace to society.

990
01:08:32.800 --> 01:08:39.920
I think that praying our child sexually is very much

991
01:08:40.359 --> 01:08:44.600
more egregious than a lot of the crimes I'm seeing

992
01:08:44.600 --> 01:08:48.159
people in prison for every single day. There's no way

993
01:08:48.199 --> 01:08:50.920
to balance or rectify that. I think you have one.

994
01:08:50.960 --> 01:08:52.039
I'm gonna call it. That's it.

995
01:08:53.199 --> 01:08:55.520
Without going into graphic detail of what type of behavior

996
01:08:55.560 --> 01:08:57.600
as far as manipulation are you talking about.

997
01:08:58.760 --> 01:09:02.079
I mean, she would bring alcohol to a kid. So

998
01:09:02.119 --> 01:09:05.840
she would bring alcohol to a kid. She would she

999
01:09:05.880 --> 01:09:11.279
would buy her parents like concert tickets so they could

1000
01:09:11.279 --> 01:09:13.279
have a night out, and she would volunteer a babysit.

1001
01:09:14.720 --> 01:09:20.640
She would make reservations, say hey, I can babysit. She

1002
01:09:20.640 --> 01:09:24.520
she was in charge of logistics at for the church

1003
01:09:24.560 --> 01:09:27.720
group when they would take kids on youth trips and

1004
01:09:27.840 --> 01:09:30.760
church trips. Church camps, things like that, And so she

1005
01:09:30.960 --> 01:09:35.760
had the logistical control to determine where children would stay,

1006
01:09:37.279 --> 01:09:40.000
what rooms they would stay in, what betting, what beds

1007
01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.119
they would be in, uh, dormitory arrangements, things like that,

1008
01:09:44.159 --> 01:09:46.640
where they'd sit on the bus, whatever. And she would

1009
01:09:46.800 --> 01:09:51.119
use that logistical control to isolate the victim away from

1010
01:09:51.119 --> 01:09:54.399
everybody else so that she could perpetrate these heinous acts

1011
01:09:54.800 --> 01:09:57.840
while on duty as a as a youth minister. She

1012
01:09:58.039 --> 01:10:02.640
would I mean, I would just encourage all the prototypical

1013
01:10:04.439 --> 01:10:09.199
grooming practices were displayed by Lindsay Whiteside. I mean, we

1014
01:10:09.199 --> 01:10:12.119
could write a book about it. But like I said,

1015
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:14.720
this was not a one time deal. This was a

1016
01:10:14.840 --> 01:10:19.720
very calculated effort to abuse a child, and I think

1017
01:10:19.760 --> 01:10:21.920
anyone that supports that should be ashamed.