Trial Begins for Disgraced Preacher
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: December 10, 2007
A disgraced preacher on trial for compelling prostitution faced his accuser in court today.
James Cornell Clark is charged with importing an alien for immoral purposes.
In a federal courtroom, a young woman tells her story of poverty in her native Kenya, where she lived in a small village in a house made of mud and cow dung.
In order to survive she moved to Nairobi, and worked as a prostitute.
To every man she met, she eagerly showed her impressive grades from high school, and hoped that one of these men might be the ticket to a better life.
On the stand she described her life in Kenya, and the turn it took when she met Clark, a former preacher at Mt. Vernon Methodist Church.
She says clark offered her a scholarship to attend South Plains College, which would be paid for through a church charity.
The young woman saw an opportunity to finish her education and escape prostitution.
When she arrived in Lubbock, she quickly learned there were strings attached.
When she denied Clark sex, the scholarship became a loan, and when she could not pay, she said he threatened her with deportation.
As this young woman tearfully told her story, the accused shook his head.
His defense team says she was an opportunist, who was willing to do anything in find a man, leave Kenya, and get married.
They say when that vision crumbled, she had only a temporary student visa.
So she took another route...became a witness to a crime.
Now , this trial will resume tomorrow morning.
