Behind Closed Doors

The first thing they agreed upon was a maximum $30,000 fine. No arguments there. But some jurors thought probation would be appropriate for Jane Doe's rape. Others, like Bice, wanted the harshest punishment. Bice says she wanted him to serve the maximum sentence, 20 years, in all three cases. While she was willing to compromise, Bice says there was a conflict between the cop juror and the foreman. One said, "'I think he should get so many years, and we're going to be here a long time if that's not what everyone else wants,'" Bice says. The other was equally unwilling to budge above a 10-year sentence. "'Yes, we are going to be here a long time,'" she says he replied.

But after 8 1/2 hours, an agreement was reached: 14 years for Krystal Buchanan and Kate Jones, 10 years for Jane Doe. Bice said she had to speak up just before they signed off on the sentencing papers.

She told the group, "It's going to take me a long time for my heart to catch up with this decision." Coming down five years from the maximum had been hard for Bice, but six was too much. Finally, a juror who had been holding out told Bice, "I don't want you to have nightmares." The sentence became 15 years.

At the end of it all, Bice says she was most concerned for the three Hornbuckle children after hearing snippets of a sermon during testimony. "You men need to bathe your daughters," Hornbuckle had preached, relaying a story about seeing his own adolescent daughter naked. Until then, Bice says, she had felt sorry for Hornbuckle's wife, Renee.

"Obviously, she knew she was married to a very sick man," Bice says.

Church elders are now deciding if Renee Hornbuckle will lead the church permanently. Adding to a number of civil lawsuits pending against Hornbuckle, demanding millions in damages, his former executive assistant, Lisa Fuller, who testified during the trial, is now suing Hornbuckle and Agape Christian Fellowship. According to the lawsuit, she was fired after she resisted the preacher's sexual demands and refused to lie to a grand jury about his behavior. Hornbuckle has declared himself indigent and is demanding a court-appointed lawyer to handle his appeal.