Bishop Beat Down: Thomas Weeks Pleads Guilty To Assaulting Juanita Bynum

By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com

Looks like the media circus surrounding the soon-to-be divorced couple Prophetess Juanita Bynum and Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III could soon be over.

On Tuesday March 11, Weeks pled guilty to assaulting Bynum and was sentenced to three years of probation. The bishop, who initially pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and making terroristic threats, had held numerous press conferences, conducted radio and television interviews, and disseminated web videos declaring he was innocent.

Weeks, who pastors the Atlanta-based Global Destiny Ministries, finally came clean and opted to tell the truth in order to avoid jail time.

He pled guilty to a single count of aggravated assault and was allowed to openly address Bynum, who sat in the second row of the Fulton County courtroom.

"I want to apologize to my wife for all she's had to go through," he said.

Judge T. Jackson Bedford of the Fulton Superior Court accepted the plea by Weeks, who confessed to grabbing Bynum, throwing her down and kicking her in the parking lot of the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport last fall.

During the court appearance, Bynum petitioned the court to show mercy on her husband. The judge then rebuked both media-thirsty preachers for exploiting their marital troubles in the press.

After Weeks was sentenced to three years probation, 200 hours of non-church related community service and ordered to attend anger management counseling; he and Bynum left the court room together where they conducted a press conference.

"My emotions got the best of me. I take responsibility," the bishop said of the August 21, 2007 ordeal.

His criminal attorney, Ed Garland, said that the pair is working towards having a healthy report. "They are in communication and working on their relationship and the status of their marriage," said Garland.

Weeks had been barred from communicating with Bynum in previous court orders, however that restriction has been lifted. His record will also be cleared if the 40-year-old preacher completes the terms of his sentence.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said during the short press conference that a personal plea from Bynum initiated by Weeks' grandfather, Bishop Thomas J. Weeks, convinced prosecutors not to pursue jail time for the batterer.

Bynum, who recently preached at a two-day prayer revival in February at Grandfather Weeks' Dorchester, Mass.-based Bethel Tabernacle Pentecostal Church, said that she was overwhelmed by her husband's grandfather's appeal.

"I don't believe my husband is a criminal," Bynum offered.

The couple saw each other for the first time on Monday March 10, when Bynum was deposed at Weeks' divorce lawyer's office. She said the meeting was "emotional."

"When I saw him, it allowed me to reflect on the first time we got married," she admitted. "I thought about the time wasted and the time lost, and I said, `This has got to stop.'"

Rumors of reconciliation circulated online a month ago after it was announced that Bynum would be preaching for Week's grandfather's conference. The 49-year-old prophetess aggressively shot down the allegations via her publicist.

Bynum's rep Amy Malone released a statement to AOL Black Voices and numerous media outlets, who claimed to have the information exclusively, denying any notion of reconciliation between the two.

"After severing all ties with the Weeks family, Juanita Bynum Ministries received a request from Bishop Weeks' uncle, Bishop Leo Smith, to speak at his conference in this June. She also received an invitation from his grandfather and aunt, Bishop Thomas J. Weeks, and Dr. Gwendolyn Weeks to speak at their 2-Day Prayer Revival in Boston. Dr. Bynum has always honored her ministry and has great love and respect for the Weeks family, and after much prayer she accepted both invitations. Dr. Bynum is treating these invitations as she does all others; an opportunity to minister to God's people. Her acceptance of the invitations are in no way a step towards reconciliation," explained Malone. Thomas Weeks and Juanita Bynum during their wedding ceremony

Thomas Weeks and Juanita Bynum during their wedding ceremony

Bynum filed for divorce from Weeks in September 2007, one month after the attack in the parking lot. She cited "cruel treatment" and declared the marriage was "irretrievably broken."

She vaguely addressed the incident while hosting 'Praise the Lord' on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) shortly after the attack, announcing that she was the "new face of domestic violence."

The former hairdresser and flight attendant wed Weeks in 2002 and their million-dollar ceremony was televised.

They promoted themselves as the poster couple for evangelical relationships and together penned the tome, 'Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings.' A conference by the same name soon followed.

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