NORTH CAROLINA
Associated Press
[with video]
RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a North Carolina minister accused of orchestrating the beating of a gay congregant (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
A judge cited a juror’s misbehavior and declared a mistrial in the case of a North Carolina church minister accused in the beating of a congregant who says he was attacked to expel his “homosexual demons.”
The judge immediately held the juror in contempt on Tuesday and sentenced him to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine for bringing in unspecified outside materials.
Brooke Covington, a longtime minister at Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, had faced up to two years in prison if convicted on charges of kidnapping and assaulting former member Matthew Fenner in January 2013.
The 58-year-old Covington was the first of five church members to face trial in the case. Each defendant will be tried separately.
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