The False Witness and the Sworn Confession of Guilt

A Historical Review

HISTORICAL FACTS

In February 2005 Jamin Wight delivered a written confession of the crimes he committed against Natalie Greenfield to her father. Six months later, on August 15, 2005, Jamin Wight swore an oath before at least four eyewitnesses — including Douglas Wilson — that his written confession was “true and accurate.” Jamin Wight did all of it. Six months later, on February 14, 2006, the State of Idaho served notice to Doug Wilson that the prosecution intended to compel him to testify against Jamin Wight in his criminal trial for lewd & lascivious conduct with a child. The State wanted the jury to hear Doug Wilson’s eyewitness testimony regarding Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt.

The State pinned Jamin Wight with his written confession and his sworn oath. The State also pinned Doug Wilson. He could not claim pastoral confidentiality; he had to testify in open court against his ministerial student. Neither the perp nor the pastor had any way out — save a plea bargain — and neither had a defense. They could not argue that Jamin Wight’s 14-year-old victim “consented” to her abuse because Idaho code denies that a child can consent to sexual conduct and Idaho code defines a child as anyone under the age of 16: “It is well settled in the State of Idaho that consent is not a defense to the crimes of Sexual Abuse of a child Under the Age of Sixteen (Idaho Code 18-1506) or Lewd and Lascivious Conduct with a Child Under Sixteen Years of Age (Idaho Code 18-1508). . .”1 To be clear, the defense could not argue that Natalie consented to her abuse any more than Team Sitler could argue that his victims consented to their abuse because it is legally impossible for a child to consent.

Doug Wilson knows these historical facts because the public record, which he helped establish, bears witness to it. Doug Wilson read Jamin Wight’s written confession of guilt; Doug Wilson witnessed Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt under oath; Doug Wilson informed the Moscow Police Department of these facts in writing; and the State motioned to compel Doug Wilson to affirm these historical facts, under oath, in a public trial. The State of Idaho placed tremendous value on Jamin Wight’s written confession and sworn oath, if Mr. Wilson did not.

HISTORICAL REVISION

However, ever since Douglas Wilson wrote his eyewitness account of Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt for the MPD, he has refused to acknowledge the historical fact of the oath in public. Likewise, he refuses to affirm the historical fact of the oath to defend Natalie Greenfield. Rather, he has adopted an adversarial position against Natalie that ignores Jamin Wight’s oath as well as Idaho’s “age of consent” laws, to hold Natalie and/or her parents responsible for the crimes committed against her.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

We have compiled a list of 13 different times in the last 11 years where Doug Wilson addressed the Jamin Wight sex-abuse scandal. We think it’s exhaustive. We omitted Mr. Wilson’s letter to officer Green, which he wrote at the MPD’s request, because it’s the baseline; and we omitted variant comment threads on Mablog because they’re too difficult to locate (Mr. Wilson scrubbed his site over a year ago). However, in the following citations you will see Douglas Wilson establish a pattern of ignoring Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt in order to advance a different narrative — usually a condemnation of Natalie and/or her parents.

  • “Christ Church Timeline on the Greenfield Situation”; Spring 20162
    The Kirk released this 4,113-word timeline earlier this year. We put it first on the list because it cites the minutes from various Christ Church elders’ meetings in 2005. Please note its starting point: Exactly 3 days after Jamin Wight swore his confession of guilt. That is, Doug Wilson omitted the oath from his chronology; he omitted the meeting where Mr. Wight swore the oath; and he omitted the State’s motion to compel Mr. Wilson to testify against Jamin Wight. This establishes the pattern for Mr. Wilson’s false narrative. He acts as though these events never occurred.
  • Douglas Wilson’s Letter to Gary Greenfield, September 1, 2005
    Doug Wilson fumed 668 words at Gary Greenfield, including a threat to put him under Kirk discipline. But he did not mention Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt, which would have negated the point of the letter.
  • “Brazenly Lied About”; Blog & Mablog, October 19, 2006
    Doug Wilson wrote 869 words in response to a piece by the SPLC that addressed the two sex-abuse cases in the Kirk. But he did not mention of Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt, which would have vindicated the SPLC’s criticism.
  • “The letter on Christ Church stationery”; Culture, adventure, stillness

    “Katie, I will state here what I said in the comments on my blog. If you post a release in writing from Gary, Pat, and Natalie, giving me permission to answer the question posed by this letter — e.g. why did we say Gary failed to protect his daughter — I would be delighted to answer the question.” (Comment dated September 11, 2015, at 8:01 AM)

    Fifty-six words but Doug Wilson did not mention Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt.

  • “My Email Exchange With The Pastor Who Defends My Rapist”; A Voice Regained, February 23, 2016
    In this blog entry Natalie posted her email correspondence with Doug Wilson. Mr. Wilson wrote 8 emails (2,324 words) to her from September 21 to Sep. 29, 2015. This exchange culminated with his blackmail email, wherein he threatened to publish the journals that Natalie kept as a teenager if she did not cease bearing witness to her abuse. Doug Wilson neglected to remind Natalie of Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt.
  • Twitter, September 22, 2015
    Doug Wilson tweeted this:

    But more than one person noted Mr. Wilson’s hypocrisy, since he spread a false report about Natalie Greenfield. Click here to see the entire Twitter exchange. And please notice that Doug Wilson did not call attention to Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt.

  • “Doug Wilson’s ‘Reluctant Response’”; The American Conservative, October 1, 2015
    Mr. Wilson wrote 2,341 words in his reply to Rod Dreher; 1,238 words addressed the Wight scandal. Doug Wilson described 14-year-old Natalie as “a beautiful and striking young woman . . . about eight inches taller than Jamin.” But Doug Wilson did not mention Mr. Wight’s sworn confession of guilt, which would have validated Rod Dreher’s indictment of Mr. Wilson.
  • October 27, 2015, Christ Church HOH Meeting (Shubin Report, pages 195–218)
    Doug Wilson called this HOH meeting to specifically address the Sitler & Wight sex-abuse scandals. The written transcript is 24 pages, at more than 15,000 words. Mr. Wilson dedicated about 10,500 words to Jamin Wight’s crimes. However, he did not inform the HOHs of Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt or that the prosecution motioned to compel his testimony on this point.
  • “Jezehellsbells”; Blog & Mablog, November 23, 2015
    Doug Wilson flamed this 3,235-word blog post in retaliation to Natalie’s interview with jezebel.com. Mr. Wilson placed Natalie’s husband in a false light to discredit Natalie’s testimony. Mr. Wilson did not bother to mention Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt.
  • “Justice and the Ad Hominem”; Blog & Mablog, November 27, 2015
    Doug Wilson wrote this 2,192-word entry to justify, or rationalize, his hit job in Jezehellsbells. Mr. Wilson did not mention Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt, which would have nullified his need to ad hom Natalie and her husband.
  • “Pastor rebuts statements by victim of child abuse”; Moscow-Pullman Daily News, April 19, 2016
    Natalie told the story of her sexual abuse to an audience at the University of Idaho. The Daily News ran a front-page story on this, to which Doug Wilson replied in an email to the News. The News reported Mr. Wilson’s reply in an article. However, nothing in the article indicates that Doug Wilson informed the local paper that he personally witnessed Jamin Wight give a sworn confession of guilt that vindicated Natalie’s testimony.
  • “Didn’t check facts”; Letter to the Editor by Douglas Wilson, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, April 20, 2015
    In addition to the email cited above, Doug Wilson wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily News in response to their front-page article covering Natalie’s story of sexual abuse. Mr. Wilson huffed 199 words at the News, badgering them for what he deemed an ethical failure. But Doug Wilson did not mention the fact of Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt, which would have vindicated Natalie and eliminated the need to abuse the hometown newspaper.

CONCLUSION

More than 21,400 words over 11 years, yet whenever Doug Wilson delivers his narrative of events he never invokes Jamin Wight’s sworn confession of guilt. Not once. Instead, he has repeatedly persecuted Natalie Greenfield and her father with false accusations and an equally false history.

But if Jamin Wight had honored his sworn promise to pay the legal price for his crimes, then Doug Wilson would have had no reason to bear false witness against Natalie or her parents. There would be no phony timeline, no threats of Kirk discipline, no mention from the SPLC, no emails with Natalie, no tweets, no “Reluctant Response,” no need for one-half of the special HOH meeting or one-half of the Shubin Report, no Jezehellsbells or its sister post, and no nasty emails to the Daily News. None of this would have happened. But history tells another story. Jamin Wight violated every promise of his oath and Doug Wilson framed a false narrative that conceals this fact to defend him.

1 State’s Motions in Limine and 404(b) Notice, page 1.
2 The title of this document betrays Doug Wilson’s agenda. The timeline should have documented Jamin Wight’s criminal behavior. Instead, Mr. Wilson used it to persecute Gary Greenfield with fabricated charges.

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