Former missionary convicted of child sex abuse in Calhoun Co.

CALHOUN COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - A former missionary has been convicted after a trial centering on his sexual relationship with a 5-year-old girl.

It took the Calhoun County jury 25 minutes to select a foreman, then issue a verdict in the case against Emanuel Yarbrough of Oxford. He had been charged with first degree sodomy and first degree sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, and was convicted on both counts.

After the verdict, Yarbrough told Judge Debra Jones he felt he didn't get a fair trial and would fight the verdict on appeal.

Jones has set a sentencing date for September 1 at 9 a.m. Under Alabama law, Yarbrough will likely be sentenced to life in prison without parole, since it's a mandatory sentence when the suspect is over the age of 21 and the victim is younger than 6.

The final day of the trial began with Yarbrough taking the stand in his own defense. Yarbrough spent much of his time admitting "I needed help," but trying to argue that some of the more egregious sex acts of which he is accused didn't happen in Calhoun County.

The reason this was important is because the jury can only convict him of what he did in Calhoun County for jurisdictional reasons, and if Yarbrough was found guilty of first degree sodomy, the life without parole sentence would be automatic.

Yarbrough argued he was confused at the times, and in at least one instance, woke up and thought he was with his wife.

"In my mind, I wasn't having sex" with the 5-year-old victim, Yarbrough told the jury.

"I didn't differentiate" among the sex acts of which he was accused, Yarbrough said on the stand. "I wasn't thinking well."

Yarbrough, who told police a relative molested him when he was a teenager, also told the jury, "Sometimes I feel like God is molesting me."

Under cross-examination, Yarbrough claimed he had "no temptation" while he and the victim were at a home in Oxford, at the Anniston city limits, unlike other incidents in Indiana and Thailand.

Yarbrough's defense attorneys argued their client was on the verge of violating his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination if he testified to any activity in Indiana, where he could still be extradited and tried separately. But Judge Debra Jones said the defendant had already alluded to that activity in his own testimony.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Jake Matthews said the jury heard plenty of reasonable doubt in the testimony, especially the victim's testimony on video, where she described a bedroom that was apparently in Thailand.

He also argued about the confusion over "four specific dates" mentioned by prosecutors, which he said "was new to me, and I'm sure new to most of you."

But prosecutor Jayme Amberson, who specializes in sex crimes for the Calhoun County District Attorney's Office, said Yarbrough's testimony was the only one that was inconsistent, and that the little girl, her mother and Yarbrough's own former pastor all gave the same story to both police and the jury. She said the little girl testified, "It happened everywhere."

Amberson also said she had no doubt Yarbrough "has done good works" in the mission field and on behalf of his church, but added, "He doesn't get a free pass" and told the jury to look strictly at the case and the evidence.

Yarbrough remains in the Calhoun County Jail where he's being held without bond.

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