The latest in the drama that has unfolded between the televangelist couple Thomas Weeks and Juanita Bynum .
Thomas Weeks, the 54-year-old bishop who shares an international ministry with estranged wife Juanita
Bynum, was released on bond Friday after surrendering on charges that he assaulted his wife.
Weeks spent about six hours inside the Fulton County Jail before emerging at 1:40 p.m., holding a finger to his lips to signal that he had no comment. He climbed into the passenger seat of a silver, four-door Jaguar and rode away.
In a brief hearing inside the jail, bond was set at 30,000 and a charge of aggravated assault and $10,000 on a charge of terroristic threats, and a magistrate ordered Weeks to have no contact with Bynum or her sister, Tina Culpepper. Weeks, dressed in a gray suit and bow tie, sat silently in the small jail courtroom, his cuffed hands in his lap.
His next hearing will be Sept. 7 in Fulton County Superior Court.
Bynum, a fiery national evangelist whose sermons empower women to walk away from dead-end relationships, was allegedly struck by her husband Tuesday in a hotel parking lot after the pair had dinner together to discuss a reconciliation.
Police said Bynum, 48, has been whisked away by family as they decide what to do next.
A lawyer for Weeks said he will continue his ministry and try to reconcile with his wife after the allegations are dealt with.
“He is extremely sad over the events that have taken place,” said Edward Garland, one of the two attorneys representing Weeks. “I think there is hope on his part that the relationship can get past these difficult moments.
“He has never had any accusation of any sort like this from her or anyone esle,” said Garland. “There are a lot of circumstances surrounding these events that will be explained at a later time. He is turning it over to the court system at this point.”
Weeks, Garland said, will meet with “a variety of pastors over which he presides, and with his father, who is a minister, and he’s going to make a prayerful decision as to how he proceeds. He’s dedicated his whole life to the ministry, and we’re very hopeful that he will be able to continue to lead the ministry.”
Bynum and Weeks are co-founders of Global Destiny Church in Duluth. They were married in 2002 in a lavish televised wedding that featured a 7.76-carat diamond ring.
They separated three months ago, said Bynum’s sister, Tina Culpepper.
According to an Atlanta police incident report, Bynum said her husband “choked her, pushed her down, kicked and stomped her.”
She told police Weeks “continued stomping” her into the ground until a hotel bell man pulled him away. Police also said Weeks threatened Bynum’s life.
Culpepper said the couple was meeting for dinner at Concorde Grill in the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Tuesday night.
Police said the couple had met to work out their differences. Things soured and Weeks walked out to the parking lot about 10:30 p.m., police said. He then turned back around and attacked her, said Officer Ron Campbell.
The bruises found on Bynum were serious enough to bring felony aggravated assault charges against Weeks.
Attorney John Garland (from left), Bishop Thomas Weeks III and Sgt. E.C. Davis stand before Fulton judge Michael Wallace on Friday. The bond for Weeks, who is charged with assaulting his wife, was set at $30,000 on a charge of aggravated assault and $10,000 on a charge of terroristic threats.
