wfn.org | Grady Release Celebrated

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3092 notes).

Note 3089 by UMNS on July 30, 1996 at 16:17 Eastern (7147 characters).

SEARCH: Nathaniel T. Grady, prison, jail, conviction, sex abuse,
child, release, legal process, appeal
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Thomas S. McAnally                   375(10-21-71){3089}
          Nashville, Tenn.                           July 30, 1996

Service of thanksgiving celebrates
Grady release from New York prison

by Elliott Wright*

     NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (UMNS) -- Prayer, patience and biblical
justice were the themes of a "service of thanksgiving" here
marking the release of a United Methodist pastor jailed 10 years
ago on child abuse charges now widely considered unfounded.
     The Rev. Nathaniel T. Grady said he knew -- and wrote -- on
the day he first was locked up that "prayer is the answer that
will open the door."
     Supporters at the service pointed to Grady's patience based
in Christian faith. A top local politician compared the clergyman
to the biblical Job. Many speakers saw the hand of God in his
release. His current attorney was called "God-appointed."
     Grady is not yet legally a free man. An appeal process must
take its course. He currently is on leave of absence from the New
York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
     The small sanctuary of St. Luke's United Methodist Church was
packed with more than 250 friends, Grady family members and
colleagues in the ministry, including the bishop-designee of the
denomination's New York Conference. Baptist and Presbyterian
representatives also took part. The procession numbered more than
30 clergy, men and women of all races.
     Grady was pastor at St. Luke's, a predominantly African-
American church in suburban New Rochelle, at the time he was
sentenced to 15 to 45 years in prison. He was found guilty in 1985
on 19 counts of rape, sexual abuse and sodomy of five boys and a
girl, ages three to five, at a day care center in his former
church in the Bronx, part of New York City.
     "This congregation held me up in a time when I could barely
walk," he said of St. Luke's.
     Across the years, Grady also had some high-level political
supporters including Westchester County executive Andrew O'Rourke
who spoke at the service. "I have known Nat Grady for 25 or 30
years," said the top elected official in the large county north of
New York City. Grady spent many years in Westchester, including a
pastorate in Yonkers, O'Rourke's home town.
     The county executive compared the pastor to Job and wished
him all the vindication the patient figure receives in the Old
Testament story.
     O'Rourke attended the late afternoon service despite the fact
he had left the hospital only minutes earlier after having a
traffic accident around lunchtime.
     Grady, who is African American, was released on bail from a
New York state prison July 11 pending an appeal. A federal
district judge ruled in late June that the pastor had been denied
his constitutional right to effective counsel when his prior
attorney failed to question the way in which the original
indictment was prepared.
     The clergyman is now represented by attorney Joel Rudin, who
successfully has handled the exoneration of other defendants
caught up in a series of mid-1980s child abuse allegations in
Bronx day care centers.
     Rudin received a standing ovation at the St. Luke's service.
The Rev. Wendell Foster, who is also a member of the New York City
Council, called Rudin a "God-appointed attorney."
     Leaders of the New York Annual Conference never accepted
Grady's guilt and launched a defense fund in 1984. Clergy and lay
church members organized a program of visitations at the several
sites where he was jailed. Grady expressed deep appreciation to
this network at the service.
     The greetings of current resident Bishop James K. Mathews
were delivered by the Rev. Carol M. Cox, the newly appointed
superintendent of the Metropolitan North District. Bishop-designee
Ernest S. Lyght, who assumes office Sept. 1, delivered the
benediction concluding the three-hour celebration.
     Rudin explained that the next steps in the case are up to the
Bronx district attorney. One option is an appeal of the federal
district judge's decision that led to Grady's release; another
would take the case back to state courts; a third is to "admit the
errors of the past and finally say, 'enough is enough,'" said
Rudin.
     In an interview, the attorney speculated the Bronx district
attorney will ask that the charges be dismissed, as has happened
with four other men found guilty in the Bronx day care cases of
the 1980s.
     The indictments were brought by a now-deceased district
attorney investigating possible child abuse in city-funded day
care facilities. Grady was accused of violating children in the
Westchester-Tremont Day Care Center. No physical evidence was
introduced, and 640 hours of surveillance videotape showed no
incidents of abuse. The jury's guilty verdict was based on the
testimony of youngsters who, according to Rudin, were prompted by
the suggestive questioning of investigators.
     Rudin has in effect donated his services to Grady and the
United Methodist Church. "It has been a long time since Joel Rudin
was paid anything," said the Rev. Joseph Washington, current
pastor of St. Luke's, who hosted the service.
     "I have no choice but to see that justice is done," Rudin
said when several people thanked him at a lawn reception following
the service.
     The Rev. Marjorie D. Palmer, moderator of the Hudson River
Presbytery, brought greetings to Grady from the Presbyterian
Church (USA). She noted that many area Presbyterians had supported
Grady with visits, gifts and prayers. The Rev. Luther A. Evans of
Community Memorial Baptist Church, Yonkers, gave a prayer of
thanksgiving for Grady's release.
     Often emotional and filled with instrumental and vocal music,
the thanksgiving service included more than 30 participants. Among
the dozen speakers was State Superior Court Judge Harold Wood, who
appeared as a character witness at Grady's trial.
     Grady thanked his mother, who was present, for having taken
him and his twin sister to Sunday school when they were four years
old -- starting them on the road to trust God.
     His highest tribute went to his wife, Pearl, who stood by him
through the years: "She reminded me that I was not alone ... till
death us do part."
     A large contingent at the service came from the Fishkill
United Methodist Church, a predominantly white congregation not
far from two state prisons where Grady was incarcerated. Mrs.
Grady joined that parish when she moved to be near her husband.
The pastor, the Rev. Robert E. Richmond, and his wife were both
high school classmates of Grady.
     The people of the Fishkill church became involved in the
Grady cause and organized a program of prison visits to show their
support. Fishkill's United Methodist Women raised $1,600 for the
Grady Defense Fund.
                              #  #  #

     * Wright is a writer based in New York.

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