Kanakuk sex abuse victim fights effort to delay trial

The request by Kanakuk officials, including CEO Joe White, to delay the trial of a lawsuit filed by one of former camp director Pete Newman's sex abuse victims is being fought, according to documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

In a motion filed last month, attorneys for White and Kanakuk asked that the trial be moved from June 2013 to August 2013 so it would not interfere with Kanakuk's summer camps or with the vacation plans of one of the lawyers.

In the response filed today, lawyers for the family of the sex abuse victim, said these concerns had not even been brought up by the other side during earlier discussions. "It is too late to now concoct and convey potential concerns like this."

In the motion to delay the trial, Kanakuk had indicated that it would be no problem for the plaintiff to change the trial date. That is not the case, according to the response:

"More importantly, counsel for the Kanakuk Defendants just threw out August 12, 2013 as if it was a convenient trial date for Plaintiffs, without ever talking first with Plaintiffs’ counsel about this date. Put simply, this is not a convenient date.


"John Doe I is beginning his senior year of high school in mid-August 2013. Counsel for Plaintiffs and the Kanakuk Defendants previously anticipated that the length of the trial of this case would be two weeks. But even when the trial is over, John Doe I will need time to rest – he cannot just return to school the next day or two after the last day of trial in this very emotional case. Moreover, his senior year is a critical year. For most high school seniors, the first few months of a senior year is spent focusing on college entrance exams and college entrance applications. A mid-August 2013 trial setting, or even later, would result in John Doe missing countless days of school and would be a distraction to his academics, which would potentially affect his future."

 The lawsuit was filed after the conviction of Newman, who pleaded guilty to sex crimes involving underage boys and was handed two life sentences. The following information about the trial is taken from an earlier Turner Report post:

When their son was sent to the camp, the lawsuit said, Pete Newman, the camp director, sexually molested him, "appearing nude with an erection in a hot tub for Bible studies with (the boy) as Newman masturbated himself, he masturbated (the boy) and had the boy masturbate him."
The abuse also included games of naked truth or dare, and having the boy spend the night in Newman's living quarters, where he was sexually abused.

"At other times, Defendant Newman's inappropriate behavior and sexual abuse of (the boy) occurred in the presence of other Kanakuk Kamp personnel." The child was in the camp during the summers of 2005-2007. The lawsuit also names Kanakuk Ministries, Kanakuk Kamp, and every other name by which Kanakuk has been called as defendants.

"Newman used his position at Kanakuk Kamps as a means to abuse children such as John Doe I (as the boy is referred to throughout the petition) by developing the children's trust and friendship. This, coupled with Newman's mantle of authority as a dircctor of Kanakuk Kamps, allowed Newman to sexually abuse and molest multiple boys through masturbation, oral sex, and sodomy."