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Bishop Weeks pleads guilty to assault
Staff Reporter | Posted March 13, 2008 9:32 AM
Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for attacking his wife, evangelist Juanita Bynum. In a deal announced on Tuesday at a courthouse in Atlanta, Weeks will avoid jail time with his plea agreement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rev. Bynum consented to the plea arrangement and hugged her husband at a press conference outside the courthouse. The couple is still involved in divorce proceedings.
Weeks pleaded guilty to kicking his wife in the parking lot of an airport hotel in Atlanta on August 21 last year. "I did push her and subsequently other things took place," he said. "I apologized to her for that. No matter how much you feel you are right in a push, it's unjust according to the law."
Bynum asked the court to have mercy on her husband in sentencing him. "I don't believe my husband ... is a man that deserves to be put in jail," she reportedly said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As part of the agreement, Weeks was convicted of felony aggravated assault as a first offender. He will serve three years on probation, perform 200 hours of non-church related community service and will have to attend anger-management counseling. If he satisfies all the conditions, the conviction will be removed from his record, the newspaper reported.
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Priscilla commented on Bishop Weeks pleads guilty to assault:
Domestic violence is a serious thing. Forgiveness is wonderful, but this situation shouldn't stop a... -
M.D. commented on Bishop Weeks pleads guilty to assault:
I work with domestic violence perpetrators and victims on a daily basis. It is encouraging to see th... -
Rev. arrington commented on Bishop Weeks pleads guilty to assault:
I just pray for both of them, becuase they both are Man and Women of God. Yet they both have attack ...
March 13, 2008 10:54 AM
I just pray for both of them, becuase they both are Man and Women of God. Yet they both have attack the LGBTQ comnuinty and I know God's has deal with both of them. I pray that people let them heal and know they are human. I hate Bishop Week did this, becuase it more then people know. Yet they beleive that I as a same-loving gender minister cannot be use by God's. They both bless me two years ago. Just becuase one put out hate for you and who are you. They can still bless you through the maker of our soul.
March 13, 2008 2:12 PM
I work with domestic violence perpetrators and victims on a daily basis. It is encouraging to see that Prophetess Bynum is able to forgive him. But I really wish that the nation as a whole would recognize the effect that domestic violence has on our families and ultimately our future. I really believe that America should sentence these types of cases more strictly.
April 10, 2008 11:20 AM
Domestic violence is a serious thing. Forgiveness is wonderful, but this situation shouldn't stop at forgiveness. Bishop Weeks needs a lot of spiritual, emotional, and mental help. This just won't go away! There has to be both healing and deliverance, particularly, spiritual deliverance. Truly, the devil made him do it! I hope Juanita doesn't let her heart rule. She needs to allow healing and deliverance if there would ever be a reconciliation. If she doesn't, she will find herself in the same situation when the "passion" she now feels again for her husband dies down.