wfn.org | Seattle pastor to be sentenced for lying

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 31, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally, Nashville,
Tenn.*(615)742-5470* 10-71B {350}

By United Methodist News Service*

A United Methodist pastor in Seattle will be sentenced Sept. 1 for giving
false testimony under oath during a 1997 trial.

On July 14, the Rev. Dan Sailer, pastor of Haller Lake United Methodist
Church in North Seattle, entered an Alford plea to false swearing, a gross
misdemeanor. By entering such a plea, he did not admit lying under oath but
acknowledged there was enough evidence to make a conviction possible.  

Sailer has been suspended from his pastoral responsibilities with pay since
early May.

In court records, reported in The News Tribune in Tacoma, Sailer's attorney
said his client wanted to make a plea to avoid a trial that could become a
"public spectacle."  

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a one-year deferred
sentence, one year of community supervision and 240 hours of community
service.

Sailer, 44, testified under oath in the 1997 trial that he didn't know a
defendant accused in a traffic incident. He testified for the defense as an
unbiased witness to the incident, saying the defendant was innocent of the
charge and the prosecution's account of what happened was wrong. The jury
found the defendant not guilty.  

Months later, police learned the two men knew each other before the
incident. Last March, prosecutors charged Sailer with first-degree perjury,
a felony, after a witness came forward to say Sailer knew the defendant.  

It is not known what action church officials will take regarding Sailer.
Seattle Area Bishop Elias Galvan was unavailable for comment.
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United Methodist News Service
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