Televangelist’s Husband Pleads Guilty
By ERRIN HAINES
ATLANTA (AP) — The husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting her, was sentenced to three years’ probation and then turned to her and apologized.
Thomas W. Weeks III, a minister known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, turned after his sentencing to address Bynum, who sat in the second row of the Fulton County courtroom gallery.
“I want to apologize to my wife for all she’s had to go through,” he said.
Bynum nodded in response and quietly thanked him. 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 alleged that Weeks beat Bynum — a prominent televangelist whose message of women’s empowerment resonated with thousands of followers — in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel in August.
According to a police report, Bynum told officers that Weeks “choked her, pushed her down, kicked and stomped her … until a bellman pulled him off of her.”
Weeks initially pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of aggravated assault. (more…)
(sigh!)
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