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Pastor seeks new trial in cruelty case
House of Prayer pastor Arthur Allen Jr., whose Atlanta congregation punished its misbehaving children with belts and whips during services, should get a new trial, a lawyer argued Thursday.
Deborah Poole of the Georgia Justice Project argued in Fulton County Superior Court that the 72-year-old minister’s judge erred in not appointing a defense attorney despite Allen’s insistence that he represent himself.
More than 60 House of Prayer members, including Allen’s wife, Trina, packed into three rows of the hearing before Judge T. Jackson Bedford, who presided at Allen’s jury trial in October 2002.
Bedford initially sentenced Allen to 10 years probation for aggravated assault and child cruelty. Allen, however, failed to report to his probation officer, pay court fines or attend anger counseling, so Bedford sentenced him in August 2003 to two years in prison without parole.
Poole told Bedford that Allen, who preached the biblical teaching that sparing the rod spoils the child, “didn’t realize until he was in the depths of the trial that he was sinking, and sinking fast.” She also said Bedford should have “appointed standby counsel even over the defendant’s objections.”
Poole argued that Allen lacked the understanding of legal nuances and complexities to recognize questionable evidence that any seasoned lawyer would have challenged.
Bedford countered that he repeatedly urged Allen to accept court-appointed counsel and had 11 lawyers on standby to advise him on legal questions and strategy — help that Allen would not take. Providing counsel on standby is a method judges sometimes use to ensure that laymen representing themselves receive legal advice.
Poole also argued that Georgia law is “vague about what constitutes corporal punishment . . . and the evidence showed that Pastor Allen never whipped a child” or held children while someone else whipped them.
But prosecutor Marc Mallon argued that, while Allen “may not be educated . . . he is worldly, shrewd and wise,” saying that the minister knew what he was getting into when he chose to represent himself.
Mallon said the case involved “ritualistic beatings ” of small children under Allen’s oversight. “There’s no question the jury found this was not reasonable corporal punishment,” the prosecutor said.
Bedford did not indicate when he might rule on the motion for a retrial.
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