US church leader to face retrial on kidnapping and assault charges — TimesLIVE
In North Carolina, United States, a retrial in the case against Brooke Covington, a leader of the Word of Faith Fellowship religious community, is due to begin on Monday. She is charged with second-degree kidnapping and simple assault in a case involving the alleged beating of a community member, TimesLIVE reports, citing the Associated Press. According to court records, the hearing was scheduled in Buncombe County.
Covington's first trial took place in 2017 but ended without a verdict after the jury foreperson brought their own research into deliberations. Covington denies guilt. The retrial was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an attempt to remove the original prosecutor, the deaths or retirements of lawyers on both sides, and the transfer of the case to a new prosecutor in another jurisdiction.
Allegations of beating
Matthew Fenner said he joined Word of Faith Fellowship with his mother in 2010, when he was a teenager. According to him, during a service at the community's premises in Spindale, its members, including Covington, subjected him to what the church called a “blasting” session.
Fenner claims that he was held, choked and beaten for two hours while others prayed to cast out “homosexual demons.” Prosecutors said during the first trial that Covington restrained the community member and beat him more than 13 years ago.
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The community's position and dispute over the prosecutor
Word of Faith Fellowship is a non-denominational Protestant church founded by Sam and Jane Whaley in 1979. Its members consider Jane Whaley a prophetess. Whaley denied that she or other church leaders had ever abused community members and said that disciplinary measures are protected by the constitutional freedom of religion.
The church called claims by former community members published by the Associated Press false and stressed that it does not condone violence. AP previously reported allegations by former parishioners regarding control over community members' personal lives and violence during group prayers.
The case was transferred to a special prosecutor after Fenner's attorney, Andrew LaBrash, accused District Attorney Ted Bell of favoring the community. A judge denied the motion to remove Bell and suspended LaBrash's law license for three years, citing his repeated dishonesty and harm to the legal profession. LaBrash is appealing the decision, and the sanction has been stayed pending consideration of his case.
