Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lord Have Mercy!


Bishop Weeks and Juanita Bynum MAY be together after all. The trial started yesterday and this is what happened.

Moments after admitting to grabbing his wife by the throat, throwing her down and kicking her on the pavement of a hotel parking lot, Thomas Weeks III turned to Juanita Bynum and apologized to her in open court. The couple then walked out of the Fulton County courthouse together and signaled that their relationship may not yet be over. Weeks pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday, and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Weeks must also undergo violence and anger counseling and complete 200 hours of community service that cannot be church-related.
“They are in communication and working on their relationship and the status of their marriage.At the end of the hearing, Weeks turned to Bynum, who had been seated in the second row of the courtroom.”I want to apologize to my wife for all she’s had to go through,” he said. Bynum stood as he addressed her, nodded in response and quietly thanked him. As another condition of his probation, Weeks must have no violent contact with his wife, though the two were allowed to resume communications, which previously had been barred. Wasting no time, the couple appeared on the steps of the courthouse.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said during a brief press conference that it was a personal plea from Bynum initiated by Weeks’ grandfather that convinced prosecutors not to pursue jail time for Weeks.
“Many people in her situation would’ve been asking for him to be put in jail,” Howard said, calling Bynum’s request courageous. “I don’t believe my husband is a criminal,” she said. “I don’t believe he is a man who deserves to be put in jail.”According to a police report, Bynum told officers that on Aug. 22, 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.


Who am I to tell her to leave him? I would have been on the first thing smoking but, that's just me. Pray for them!

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