Friday morning, the husband of popular evangelist Juanita Bynum is expected to turn himself in to police to face charges of beating his wife outside an Atlanta hotel.
Thomas Weeks is also a minister — and his attorneys said there are two sides to the story, and that it is not as cut and dry as police have suggested.
Police said the fight was so bad that a doorman at the hotel had to step in and stop it. But apparently, it was not Bynum who initiated the charges. Hospital workers called police who then proceeded with the case.
The 2002 televised wedding between Juanita Bynum and Thomas Weeks III was an opulent affair that heralded what had become a global ministry for the two popular pastors.
Bynum’s ministry has been celebrated for its empowerment of women.
But now, pictures as shown on TMZ.com purport to show the injuries Bynum sustained at the hands of her husband.
“We took warrants out on him today for aggravated and terroristic threats,” said Ron Campbell of the Atlanta Police Department. “Both counts are felonies.”
Police said the couple had come to a restaurant at a hotel near Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to hammer out their marital problems. But at 4 a.m. Wednesday, something went terribly wrong.
“They got into an argument, and as they were walking through the parking lot, he started to choke her, pushed her down, began to kick her, and stomp her,” said Campbell.
Weeks’ attorneys said there are two sides to the story, but only one in his heart.
“He wanted his wife to know that he loves her very much and that he is grief stricken over the circumstances that he finds himself in,” said attorney Ed Garland.
Marriage counseling has been a big part of Weeks’ appeal, even as he fights to save his own marriage.
“As far as we know, no divorce has been filed,” said Garland. “The bishop has no intention of filing for divorce. Again, he loves his wife he wants that to be a known fact.”
Bynum issued a statement on her MySpace page on Thursday.
“I am recovering from all of my injuries and resting well,” the statement said. “There are so many great things happening for me in my future, and so much to look forward to concerning my destiny, this too shall pass.”
She and her husband pastor the Global Destiny International Center in Duluth, but the church has congregations from California to London.