Attorneys for a preacher accused of attacking his televangelist wife in a hotel parking lot said today that that they will contest her petition for divorce.Randy Kessler, one of the attorneys representing Thomas W. Weeks III, said they are considering whether their counterclaim will accuse Juanita Bynum of cruel treatment - the same charge her divorce petition levels at him.
A lawyer for the 48-year-old Bynum filed the divorce petition against the 40-year-old Weeks yesterday in Ware County, where Bynum has a home. According to the two-page document, Bynum and Weeks were married on July 22nd, 2002, and have been separated since June.
They have no children together.
Bynum cited "cruel treatment" as grounds for divorce, and said the marriage is "irretrievably broken." The filing came less than three weeks after Bynum accused Weeks of choking, pushing and stomping her in a hotel parking lot August 22nd.Weeks, known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, was charged with aggravated assault and making terroristic threats and is not allowed to have contact with Bynum. Whether Weeks' attorneys decide to pursue a cruel treatment claim against Bynum is up to him.
Associated Press