Minister, Rights Leader Denies Incest Charges

James L. Bevel, a Christian minister and leader in the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, insisted repeatedly at his incest trial in Loudoun County yesterday that he did not have sex in the 1990s with one of his daughters.

Bevel was asked by his public defender, Bonnie H. Hoffman, whether he ever rubbed the daughter's chest, another allegation that the woman has made but that is not part of this criminal case.

"Yes, I have engaged in rubbing [her] chest in an educational context," he said. Bevel was not asked by his attorney or prosecutors to elaborate. But he testified that as a minister and teacher, he has often educated people, including his children, on the "science" of sex and marriage.

Bevel has pleaded not guilty to a single count of unlawfully committing fornication on an unknown date while he lived with the daughter in Leesburg from Oct. 14, 1992, to Oct. 14, 1994. The charge, if proved, could send the 71-year-old confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to prison for up to 20 years.

On the third day of his trial in Loudoun Circuit Court, Bevel suggested that the charge is part of a conspiracy, though he did not say who instigated it. At times soft-spoken, at times emotional, he called the allegations by his daughter a "military attack."

"Someone has plotted to destroy my reputation, my being," he said, raising his voice as jurors leaned forward to listen.

Under cross-examination by Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Nicole Wittmann, Bevel testified that he has 16 children through relationships with seven women. He also acknowledged that he considers himself a recovering "sex addict."

Bevel said he grew up in an environment where "fornication" was common, "and you get addicted to that." He said he is recovering from an "all-pervasive disease."

He firmly disputed testimony by his daughter Monday that he had sex with her when she was 14 or 15 years old. He also generally disputed her allegations that he often sexually molested her, beginning when she was 6.

Yesterday afternoon, a brother, son and daughter of Bevel's testified about two family meetings called in 2004 and 2005 to discuss his daughter's allegations. At one meeting outside Selma, Ala., family members presented Bevel with an affidavit that accused him of being a pedophile and having sex with his daughter.

Family members testified that the affidavit was prepared partly because they feared he would sexually abuse his youngest daughter if she continued to live with him.

The three family members testified that when asked at the meeting about the daughter's allegations, Bevel did not deny them.