Former Pittsfield pastor sentenced Hurst receives 11-year term for sex assault

BANGOR – A former Pittsfield minister was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison, with all but four suspended, for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old parishioner in 1999.

The sentencing was moved from Somerset County to Penobscot County Superior Court to accommodate the judge’s schedule.

David Hurst, who was pastor of the Church of God until he was arrested in December 1999, sat passively looking down at his hands when Justice Andrew Mead announced the sentence. Charlotte Hurst, his wife of 21 years, blinked back tears from her seat behind the defense table.

“The reports of experts show Mr. Hurst to be a deeply, deeply troubled man who never should have been in the position he held,” Mead said Thursday. “There are ominous notes in the reports that suggest a propensity toward pedophilia.

“As a minister, he violated a profound position of trust and a place of safety,” the justice said. “The victim impact has been significant, despite statements that the victim is doing well now.”

Hurst, 47, entered a guilty plea and appeared for sentencing before Mead last November in Skowhegan. That procedure was canceled abruptly when Hurst’s attorney, Michaela Murphy of Waterville, disagreed with the jail term sought by Assistant District Attorney James Mitchell. Sentencing was delayed again when Mead ordered a presentence investigation, recommendation and psychological evaluation.

According to the prosecution, the victim was playing a video game at the parsonage in October 1999 when Hurst made sexual advances, then performed oral sex on him. The victim then told other parishioners, who confronted Hurst and notified police.

A day after Hurst confessed to police, he resigned from the church and apologized in a letter to the congregation he had led for six years. He has since been stripped of his ministerial credentials.

Mitchell said Thursday that although Hurst had no criminal record, he should receive the maximum sentence – 20 years in prison, with all but 10 suspended. He told the court that this was not the first time the former minister had assaulted a minor.

“This is just the first time he’s been caught violating a 13-year-old,” said the prosecutor. “I don’t agree with the sentencing recommendation of eight years in prison with all but two suspended. It doesn’t take into account the violation of trust that occurred.”

The defense attorney asked that Hurst be sentenced to 10 years, all but time served suspended, and six years of probation including 1,000 hours of community service. The court-appointed attorney said that her client had been in custody 16 months and in protective custody at the Somerset County Jail for all of that time. He also was hospitalized at least twice during that period for mental health problems.

She said that like many sexual abusers, Hurst was sexually abused himself. Murphy told the court that there was no evidence that Hurst had sexually assaulted anyone before the incident in October 1999.

“David felt he was born to be a minister,” said Murphy. “He understands that he will never be in that position of trust again. What the community needs for protection is to keep David Hurst psychologically healthy and busy.”

The victim’s mother asked for a severe sentence, while former parishioners and Charlotte Hurst sought leniency in light of the ex-minister’s work in his former communities.

“My child’s right of choice and trust have been forever damaged,” said the victim’s mother. “Mrs. Hurst requested four different times that I come to her home so we could get this washed under the bridge. When I asked her how many times this had happened before, there was silence.

“Then, she told me that ‘all those other children had the devil in them.’ I was thinking to myself, how many times has this happened and to how many children?” she told the court. “I’d request that the probation officer let me know where he is. They have moved from state to state. If they move out of state, he’s not going to an adult state; there is no such thing.”

The couple moved to Maine from Arkansas in 1991, according to Charlotte Hurst. They served at a Deer Isle church for two years before moving to Pittsfield in 1993. She said the assault occurred while she was visiting a daughter-in-law in Tennessee who had been ordered to bed for six weeks during a difficult pregnancy.

“He felt very alone under all the added pressure,” said Charlotte Hurst. “He broke under the strain. … I’m not excusing what happened. I know it was very wrong. Everyone has their breaking point, and David broke.”

Dressed in gray prison garb, Hurst read a short statement to the judge. A short man with reddish blond hair, he spoke in a soft Southern accent.

“I owe the victim and his family an apology,” he said. “I wish there was a way to undo what I have done. There’s not. The doctors told me this was a symptom of my mental illness. It never happened before or since. I put myself at the mercy of this court. To all my family and friends, I’m sorry I let them down and ask their forgiveness.”

After the sentencing, Mitchell said that with credit for time served, Hurst would spend about 32 months in prison, most likely at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Murphy, on the other hand, expressed concern over whether Hurst would “have access to the psychological services he needs in a larger institution.”

Because of the age of his victim, Hurst will be required to register as a pedophile with local authorities after his release.