BishopAccountability.org

Defense team for pastor accused of kidnapping, assault wants 'secret recordings'

By Jennifer Saylor
WLOS
July 18, 2017

http://wlos.com/news/local/defense-team-for-pastor-accused-of-kidnapping-assault-wants-secret-recordings


This photo taken May 19, 2017, shows Brooke Covington, a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindle, N.C., leaving a hearing at Rutherford County Courthouse accompanied by an attorney, Joshua Valentine, in Rutherfordton, N.C. Covington and other church members are accused of kidnapping and assaulting Matthew Fenner, a former church member, because he is gay. Covington, 58, has pleaded innocent to one count each of kidnapping and assault. If convicted, she faces up to two years in prison.


Photo by Kathy Kmonicek

In this Thursday, March 2, 1995 file photo, Word of Faith Fellowship church leader Jane Whaley talks to members of the media, accompanied by her husband, Sam, in Spindale, N.C. In August 1995, then-DA Jeff Hunt said investigators determined that adults and children had been abused inside the church, but declined to prosecute. Hunt said he concluded he couldn't win a conviction because he lacked specifics and most of the congregants interviewed by the state Bureau of Investigation had declined to testify.
Photo by Chuck Burton

Word of Faith Fellowship minister Brooke Covington walks out of Rutherford County court on Monday, June 5, 2017. Covington is accused of leading the 2013 beating of former member Matthew Fenner to expel his "homosexual demons."

The defense team for Word of Faith Fellowship pastor Brooke Covington is asking a judge to order what they call "secret recordings" to be turned over.

The recordings were recently referenced in a story by the Associated Press, and according to court documents were made during conversations Matthew Fenner had with the Rutherford County Sheriff and other investigators.

Covington is charged with assaulting and kidnapping Fenner during what former church members have referred to as "blasting prayers," to rid Fenner of his "homosexual demons."

In another motion the Rutherford County DA's office asked the judge to lift a temporary gag order that prevents law enforcement from talking with jurors as they investigate last month's mistrial in the case.

Covington's retrial is currently scheduled for September.




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