MORGAN HILL — A jury totally acquitted a San Jose nonprofit director of intercourse abuse expenses alleging he molested two ladies when he was a youth pastor at a San Jose church, concluding a dramatic trial that noticed him combat again by framing the allegations as a conspiracy by his accusers’ households to land a multi-million greenback authorized settlement.
Former South Bay youth pastor and nonprofit chief Brett Bymaster walks out of the Morgan Hill courthouse after being acquitted of sexual abuse expenses on November 19, 2025. He was accused of sexually assaulting two ladies underneath his supervision when he was a youth pastor at a San Jose church, and defended himself by contending that the households of his accusers conspired to defame him in pursuit of a monetary settlement from the church.
The decision, handed down late Wednesday night within the Morgan Hill courtroom of Decide Stuart Scott, exonerated 49-year-old Brett Bymaster of 10 felony sexual abuse expenses. The case was constructed on allegations made by two sisters who claimed he serially groped and violated them when he was their youth pastor at The River church in San Jose between 2013 and 2019.
A courtroom gallery occupied by a dozen of Bymaster’s household and supporters collectively gasped and broke into tears when the decision was learn almost an hour after the courtroom had formally closed for the day. Earlier within the afternoon, jurors signaled to Scott that that they had agreed to acquit on one rely however had fallen simply wanting unanimity, 11 to 1, on the remaining.
Scott and the jury had been scheduling further deliberations for Thursday and Friday, and the set up of an alternate juror on account of 1 juror having prescheduled journey. Throughout these discussions, Scott famous that the deliberations on the remaining counts would wish to begin over due to the juror swap.
The jury had really left the courtroom when a minute later, the foreperson returned along with her colleagues in tow, asking to carry one other vote. About quarter-hour later, they returned with unanimous not responsible verdicts on the remaining 9 counts.
“After over a year of waiting, the truth has finally come to light. I am grateful that the jury saw past the lies and prevented a miscarriage of justice,” he stated. “I am ready to get back to the hard work of serving Jesus and loving our neighbors in the downtown San Jose Washington community. Our family continues to pray blessings and healing for all those involved – both our accusers and our supporters.”
Deputy District Lawyer Christopher Paynter, who prosecuted Bymaster, stated he was not ready to instantly give a press release on the trial end result.
Bymaster, who had gone on to assist discovered the low-income advocacy nonprofit Therapeutic Grove Well being Middle in San Jose, was arrested in April 2024 after a girl recognized in courtroom as “K. Doe” informed San Jose police that Bymaster sexually assaulted her repeatedly beginning when she was 8 years outdated and persevering with till she was 13.
Doe’s declare fueled six baby intercourse abuse expenses — together with two that alleged intimidation or drive — that have been accredited for trial 5 months later, following a preliminary listening to. After that, her older sister, recognized as “J. Doe,” got here ahead along with her personal account of abuse involving Bymaster, which finally added 4 extra felony intercourse abuse expenses to the prosecution’s case.
Paynter portrayed Bymaster as a manipulator who leveraged his skilled and non secular authority over his accusers, who have been preteens after which teenagers over the course of the alleged acts, leaving them helpless and having no confidence that church officers would imagine them.
The sexual touching alleged by the reported victims included “side hugs” that the prosecution asserted have been pretense for fondling their breasts, and “wandering massages,” in addition to extra severe alleged acts that concerned contact along with his penis.
Protection attorneys Dana Fite and Renee Hessling referred to as the allegations full fabrications fanned by 5 influential church households who have been seeking to scapegoat the church for issues they have been experiencing with their youngsters, which included a suicide try by Ok. Doe when she was 14.
That motive took preexisting considerations about Bymaster’s educating and management fashion — through which he was accused of bullying — and remodeled them into claims of sexual abuse. The attorneys then characterised the households as each deluding themselves and manipulating the Doe sisters into remembering abuse that didn’t happen.
Fite and Hessling argued that their principle explains why no sexual abuse claims have been made in opposition to Bymaster till shortly earlier than his arrest, which was 5 years after he left the church, even throughout a number of inquiries into his conduct. However they stated the most important motive for the reputed deception was to safe a $2.1 million settlement, for which the church put aside money and property in anticipation of a sexual abuse lawsuit fueled by Bymaster’s conviction.
“Today’s verdict is a powerful reminder that our justice system works when jurors listen with open minds and full hearts. We are deeply grateful for this jury’s diligence, compassion, and unwavering attention to the evidence,” Fite and Hessling stated in a joint assertion. “Their careful deliberation restored justice and gave Brett the chance to reclaim the future that was unfairly taken from him.”
One of many catalysts for renewed scrutiny into Bymaster final yr was the households’ dissatisfaction and claims of betrayal after it was revealed {that a} 2021 inquiry didn’t make a good-faith effort to solicit and discover sexual abuse claims. Across the time the church introduced plans for a brand new exterior investigation in January 2024, San Jose police renewed their very own investigation, which stalled years earlier when preliminary claims of abuse have been recanted.
The 2 sides argued over each the timing of the allegations in addition to the declare by Ok. Doe that she unlocked her repressed recollections of Bymaster’s abuse after present process eye motion and desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) remedy at a Tennessee mental-health rehabilitation facility, throughout an institutionalization that the church reportedly spent $85,000 to fund. The protection attorneys stated that account misrepresented EMDR’s proclaimed advantages of diminishing trauma relatively than revealing it.
Paynter and the protection crew additionally sparred over testimony from different ladies underneath Bymaster’s supervision who recalled cases through which Bymaster made sexually suggestive feedback about their breasts, and talked wantonly about masturbation and a previous porn habit. However Fite and Hessling referred to as lots of these claims a distortion of confessionals that Bymaster gave to disclose private failings and open up candid dialogues about intercourse, relatively than prurient intentions.
This can be a creating story. Verify again for updates.
