Friday, March 14, 2008
Thomas Weeks III was about to go to trial on charges he abused the Rev. Juanita Bynum...
Bishop Thomas Weeks III pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting his televangelist wife, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, and was sentenced to three years’ probation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Then, standing before a judge in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, he turned to his wife of five years and said, “I want to apologize to my wife for all she’s had to go through.” Bynum then nodded to him and mouthed, “Thank you,” the newspaper reports, noting that the two later walked out of the courthouse together.
“They are in communication and working on their relationship and the status of their marriage,” said Ed Garland, Weeks’ attorney in the criminal case. Prosecutors charged Weeks with beating, choking and stomping his famous wife in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel on Aug. 21. A bellman told police that he rescued Bynum as Weeks threatened to kill her.
Tuesday’s plea was an about-face from Weeks’ earlier assertions that he had not assaulted his wife, contending that he in fact had been the abused spouse. He pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault. Part of the plea deal means that Weeks must attend violence and anger counseling and complete 200 hours of non-church-related community service. His record will be expunged once he completes these requirements, the Journal-Constitution reports. It was a different kind of plea that resulted in leniency from the prosecutor, according to Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard. He said that Weeks’ grandfather pleaded with Bynum not to seek jail time for the troubled pastor of Global Destiny Church in Duluth, Ga. In turn, Bynum asked Howard not to jail him.
“Many people in her situation would’ve been asking for him to be put in jail,” Howard told the Journal-Constitution, calling Bynum’s request “courageous.” Said Bynum: “I don’t believe my husband is a criminal.”
Bishop Thomas Weeks III pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting his televangelist wife, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, and was sentenced to three years’ probation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Then, standing before a judge in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, he turned to his wife of five years and said, “I want to apologize to my wife for all she’s had to go through.” Bynum then nodded to him and mouthed, “Thank you,” the newspaper reports, noting that the two later walked out of the courthouse together.
“They are in communication and working on their relationship and the status of their marriage,” said Ed Garland, Weeks’ attorney in the criminal case. Prosecutors charged Weeks with beating, choking and stomping his famous wife in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel on Aug. 21. A bellman told police that he rescued Bynum as Weeks threatened to kill her.
Tuesday’s plea was an about-face from Weeks’ earlier assertions that he had not assaulted his wife, contending that he in fact had been the abused spouse. He pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault. Part of the plea deal means that Weeks must attend violence and anger counseling and complete 200 hours of non-church-related community service. His record will be expunged once he completes these requirements, the Journal-Constitution reports. It was a different kind of plea that resulted in leniency from the prosecutor, according to Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard. He said that Weeks’ grandfather pleaded with Bynum not to seek jail time for the troubled pastor of Global Destiny Church in Duluth, Ga. In turn, Bynum asked Howard not to jail him.
“Many people in her situation would’ve been asking for him to be put in jail,” Howard told the Journal-Constitution, calling Bynum’s request “courageous.” Said Bynum: “I don’t believe my husband is a criminal.”
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