Judge rejects plea deal in case of abused teen

VIRGINIA BEACH

Melina McPherson arrived at the city's courthouse Tuesday prepared to serve 40 days in jail in exchange for her guilty plea of taking indecent liberties with a teenage girl.

Instead, a judge rejected the plan, revoked her bond and jailed her indefinitely.

Circuit Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr. described Melina McPherson's plea agreement as "a travesty of justice," particularly after her husband, Stephen McPherson, was ordered to serve 19 years in prison for engaging in sex acts with two other teenage girls in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

The couple had admitted to citing Bible verses to manipulate the victims - sisters, whom the McPhersons met while serving as house parents at Hope Haven Children's Home during the late 1990s - into engaging in sex acts, according to court records.

"Externally, they were very religious," Canada said of the couple. "Internally, they were possessed of the devil."

Although he had said during a Sept. 2 hearing that he would honor the couple's plea agreements, Canada said Tuesday that a deal that called for just 40 days in jail for indecent liberties sent the wrong message to the public and gave an appearance of impropriety.

He also said that after reviewing a psychosexual evaluation of Melina McPherson, he worried about the welfare of her two young sons and whether they would be safe with her.

McPherson's attorney, Franklin Swartz, said he hoped to file a request this week to reinstate her bond. Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant, who negotiated the plea deals with the McPhersons, said he planned to prepare for a trial. The case will be transferred to a new judge, although no new court date has been set.

State sentencing guidelines had recommended no jail time for Melina McPherson, Bryant said. McPherson, 38, has no prior criminal record.

Bryant protested the judge's decision, saying that rejection of the deal could reduce the chances of McPherson being convicted and placed on the state sex offender registry. She was accused of a crime that occurred about 10 years ago, and the case is largely "going to be one person's word against another," Bryant said.

"I don't want to hear any more," Canada replied.

The McPhersons began abusing the girls at Hope Haven Children's Home in Virginia Beach during the late 1990s. In 2000, the McPhersons adopted the girls and moved to Chesapeake, where Stephen McPherson continued the abuse, records show.

Stephen McPherson, a former assistant dean at Regent University, is serving a 16-year prison term after pleading guilty to charges in Chesapeake, and another three years for similar charges in Virginia Beach.

On Tuesday, Canada acknowledged that the victims did not want to see the McPhersons punished harshly. But he chastised Bryant for publicly trying to justify the plea deal by releasing letters from the sisters in September, despite being told not to do so.

In the letters, the victims wrote that they did not want to see the couple prosecuted, much less jailed.

The judge also denied Bryant's request that Melina McPherson's victim, who had traveled from New Hampshire, be permitted to read a statement to the court. She had approved of the plea agreement, Bryant said.

"Sorry," Bryant told the young woman as she walked out of the courtroom.

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com