A Morgan Hill jury on Wednesday acquitted Brett Bymaster, 49, a former San Jose youth pastor, of 10 felony sexual abuse counts after a Santa Clara County trial that stretched into lengthy deliberations. The criminal case, which grew out of reporting and internal church reviews in 2024, ended with unanimous not guilty verdicts on every charge. Bymaster had consistently maintained his innocence.
How the jury decided
Jurors told the court they were initially split 11-to-1 on nine of the counts before later returning unanimous not guilty verdicts across the board, according to The Mercury News. The decision came in a Morgan Hill courtroom overseen by Judge Stuart Scott, with Deputy District Attorney Christopher Paynter presenting the case for the prosecution.
Background of the case
Bymaster was arrested in April 2024 after a San Jose Police Internet Crimes Against Children task force launched an investigation. Early reports stated that prosecutors first filed six felony charges. San Jose-area outlets later reported that the alleged misconduct was connected to Bymaster's work in youth ministry and that additional felony counts were added during preliminary proceedings, as detailed by SFGate. Following his arrest, Bymaster was booked into the Elmwood Correctional Facility.
Church response and local fallout
The River Church Community initiated internal reviews after earlier complaints, and families in the congregation publicly challenged how that first inquiry had been handled, as reported by Hoodline. Church leaders later acknowledged problems with past oversight and brought in a third-party investigator while working with law enforcement. The criminal case has helped fuel broader South Bay conversations about safety and supervision in youth programs.
At trial, defense attorneys Dana Fite and Renee Hessling argued that the allegations were fabricated by a small group of influential church families seeking to pressure the congregation, a narrative that included claims of an approximately $2.1 million settlement demand, according to The Mercury News. The outlet also reported that the church had set aside cash and property in anticipation of a civil lawsuit and noted Bymaster's ties to local nonprofit Healing Grove Health Center. Prosecutors rejected the defense theory, but jurors ultimately found the state had not met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
What the acquittal means legally
With a criminal acquittal, the state cannot retry Bymaster on these same charges in most circumstances because of double jeopardy protections. Separate civil cases, however, remain a possibility. Those actions would use a lower "preponderance of the evidence" standard instead of the criminal standard of proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," as outlined by Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. Any such lawsuits would move on their own schedule and under different rules than the now-closed criminal case.
What comes next
For Bymaster, the jury's decision ends the criminal side of the saga, even as the church's third-party review and community demands for transparency continue. Earlier coverage noted that Bymaster's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment and that congregants and civic leaders have called for stronger safeguards around youth programming in local faith communities. Any future civil filings or newly released documents would proceed separately and are likely to surface through court records and ongoing local reporting.
