LONGVIEW — A former Gladewater pastor pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He could be sentenced today.
Testimony in the sentencing trial of Larry Jackson, 55, of Kilgore will continue today in a Gregg County court. He could be sentenced up to life for each charge.
Jackson was arrested in October.
In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Jenny Huckle said Jackson molested two sisters younger than 14 in the late 1990s.
The oldest girl is now a sophomore in college, and the youngest girl soon will be a college freshman.
The Longview News-Journal is withholding the names of the girls because they are victims of sexual abuse.
Jackson was the pastor at Gladewater Church of Christ. The girls were not members of the church, but occasionally attended when Jackson supervised them.
“That preacher put those little girls through their own personal hell,” Huckle said.
The girls’ mother was friends with Jackson and his wife.
Huckle said the woman relied on the couple to take care of her daughters while she was at work and her husband, who serves in the military, was stationed out of the state.
The mother did not learn of the abuse until years later when the family moved to Virginia.
Defense attorney Clifton “Scrappy” Holmes said confession was good for the soul but not for a criminal defense.
He said testimony in the trial would discuss all aspects of Jackson’s character, and he asked the jury to remember the good as well as the bad when deciding Jackson’s sentence.
The two girls testified during the sentencing phase of the trial, and each spoke through tears as they described the abuse.
The oldest sister, who was 9 years old at the time of the abuse, said the girls would stay at Jackson’s home while their mother was working, and they would occasionally stay overnight. She said Jackson twice removed her from her sofa bed in the living room, placed her on the floor and attempted to penetrate her.
She said he stopped when she began to cry.
The younger sister, who was 7 years old at the time of the abuse, said Jackson performed oral sex on her three times and tried penetrating her once.
The sisters said they did not tell their mother about the abuse until they had moved.
The sisters’ mother will testify this morning before the prosecution rests.
The defense will have the opportunity to call witnesses today.
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