.JPG "Gateway Church founder Robert Morris enters the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, accompanied by his wife, Debbie Morris, and his attorney, Mack Martin, on Friday, May 9, 2025.")
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris enters the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, accompanied by his wife, Debbie Morris, and his attorney, Mack Martin, on Friday, May 9, 2025.
The Dallas Morning News/TNS
The Southlake pastor who last month pleaded guilty to indecency with a child has asked a Dallas County court to toss the victim’s defamation suit against him, court filings show.
The defamation suit alleges that former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris made millions from concealing and mischaracterizing his abuse of Cindy Clemishire, then aged 12, in the 1980s.
Clemishire and her father filed the suit in June, seeking civil damages in excess of $1 million.
The Clemishires say that Morris and Gateway Church dismissed the sexual assault for years, characterizing it as “nothing more than an inappropriate relationship,” when in reality it was the sexual abuse of a child, the family’s lawyers said at the time.
The family also claim that Morris and Gateway continually defamed them and lied about the circumstances of the abuse after Clemishire came forward last year.
In Monday’s filing, lawyers for Morris argue Clemishire’s claims should be dismissed in part because the statute of limitations on them have expired.
Additionally, Morris’ lawyers argued that the Clemishires failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted, and that the Dallas court does not have jurisdiction over the matter, according to the filing.
Morris isn’t the only defendant to ask the court to be dismissed from the lawsuit: several of the church’s former elders, as well as Morris’ nonprofit, have also filed motions to be dismissed, according to court records.
Morris is currently serving a six-month sentence in an Oklahoma jail in the indecency with a child case and is required to register as a sex offender.
Clemishire’s defamation suit is set to go to trial next June .
Lillie Davidson
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