It took two hours, 20 minutes for a jury of 12 to find Enumclaw Sound Doctrine pastor Malcolm Fraser guilty of two counts of first-degree child rape and two counts of first-degree molestation of a child.
A sentencing date was not announced May 29 when the jury returned its verdict. Superior Court Judge Lori K. Smith stated the date will be set later.
The verdict
The jury began deliberations at 2 p.m. May 28, following closing arguments and instructions from the judge. The jury ended deliberations at 4 p.m. and returned at 9 a.m. May 29. At 9:20 the court bailiff was notified the jury had reached a verdict.
Defense Attorney Ann Carey had to come from her office in Seattle while Malcolm Fraser and his wife Julie came from Enumclaw.
Both were delayed by serious traffic accidents in separate parts of the South Sound.
Members of Sound Doctrine Church began filtering into the courtroom about 9:30 a.m., including those who maintain the church website, Enumclaw.com.
The outward sense in the courtroom from church members prior to the Fraser and Carey’s arrival was relaxed, almost jovial.
Carey reached the court at 10:30 a.m. Shortly after, word went through the room Fraser was parking.
By the time Fraser arrived at 10:45, about 20 people, some members of the church, filled the seats behind the defense table. He was dressed in a dark suit with white shirt and tie.
His wife, Julie Fraser, sat in the front behind and to the right of Fraser. Abigail Davidson sat next to Julie Fraser to provide sign language for her during the reading of the verdict. Julie Fraser is deaf.
When Fraser entered the courtroom and took his seat he turned to the group, smiled and waved. Josiah Williams, the senior pastor of Sound Doctrine, who testified during the trial, was present. Tim Williams, the Sound Doctrine founder, was not.
The room became quiet and the tension rose as the Deputy Prosecutor Jason Simmons arrived at 10:47 a.m. and took his seat.
Two King County Sheriff’s deputies stood at the door.
The bailiff asked the attorneys if they were ready for the judge.
All Rise
The judge entered King County Superior Courtroom 4C at 10:59 a.m. to the bailiff’s call of, “All rise.”
The judge took her seat and said the “word from the jury is they have a verdict.”
The judge looked to the spectators and said in a calm but firm tone that she realized this had been an emotional case, but, “You will keep your decorum or you will be forced to leave.”
With that statement she directed the bailiff to bring the jury into the courtroom.
As the members filed in they looked serious and somber. The judge asked the presiding juror if they had reached a verdict.
“We have,” he said.
The judge then asked if the verdict had been signed.
“We have,” he said.
The bailiff then gave the verdict to the judge and she asked the court clerk to read the verdict.
The clerk read the charge of first-degree rape of a child and said, “Guilty.”
Sobs broke out from members of the church. Fraser stood still and did not react.
Three more times the clerk said, “Guilty.”
Following the reading of the verdict the judge polled the jury and each said clearly they found Fraser guilty as charged.
Fraser turned to his wife and spoke to her with sign language. Julie Fraser was crying and the other members of the church were sobbing.
At that point the prosecutor said the state was requesting Fraser be taken into custody and the judge concurred. Smith asked the spectators to leave the courtroom as the deputies took Fraser into custody. He would be escorted through a door he had sat 10 feet away from since April 3 when the trial began. The double-locked door leads into the jail.
Notes
The State vs. Malcolm John Fraser criminal trial spanned two months. The jury was comprised of four women and eight men.
Fraser did not take the stand to testify.
He was arrested in March 2012 and entered a plea of not guilty in April 2012. He had been free on bail while awaiting the trial.
Fraser was convicted of raping and molesting a girl while he lived with her family in Enumclaw. Fraser was living in the house as an assistant pastor for the church with his wife, Julie Fraser. He also worked at WinePress Publishing, a Christian self-publishing business located in Enumclaw. WinePress is owned by Sound Doctrine.
The rape and molestation of the girl began when she was 10 and continued when she as 11. She is now 18 years old.
The young woman who brought the charges forward was on the stand for three days.
Upcoming
A juror was willing to give an interview to this publication. The juror’s interview and impressions of the trial from inside the jury room will be next.
