An assault and kidnapping case against a leader of a secretive North Carolina religious group appears to be finally returning to the courtroom more than nine years after her first trial ended without a verdict.
Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington was first tried in 2017 on second-degree kidnapping and simple assault charges.
Prosecutors said she held down and beat a one-time member of the group more than 13 years ago.
That case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations.
Covington has maintained she is innocent.
In the meantime, the COVID-19 outbreak, a move to remove the original prosecutor that ended with the suspension of the law license of the attorney making the request, deaths or retirements of lawyers on both sides and handing the trial to a new prosecutor in a new jurisdiction have all delayed a new trial.
Covington's trial is set to begin Monday in Buncombe County, according to court records.
Both the new prosecutor and Covington's lawyer didn't respond to messages seeking details about the trial.
Teen says church leaders held him down and beat him Matthew Fenner joined Word of Faith as a teenager in 2010 with his mother.
He was at a service on the church’s compound in Spindale, North Carolina, when members including Covington started what the church called a “blasting” session on him, according to Fenner.
Members held him down and choked and beat him for two hours while others prayed to expel “homosexual demons,” Fenner said.
Word of Faith is a nondenominational Protestant church that was founded in 1979 by Sam and Jane Whaley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlotte and Asheville.
Members consider Jane Whaley a prophet.
In 2017, The Associated Press published a series of stories about Word of Faith that....
