Judge: Pastor convicted of child abuse shouldn't get new trial

<p>A Fulton County judge ruled Thursday that the pastor convicted of child cruelty at his Atlanta church will not get a new trial.</p><p>Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford made the ruling after hearing last week's arguments that the court erred by letting House of Prayer pastor Arthur Allen Jr. defend himself.</p><p>But Bedford had said he repeatedly asked Allen to accept court-appointed counsel and had 11 lawyers on standby to advise him on legal questions and strategy help that Allen would not take.</p><p>Allen and four others were convicted in 2002 of beating boys at his independent church.</p><p>Deborah Poole, Allen's lawyer, argued last week that the court should have appointed Allen a standby lawyer despite his objections.</p><p>Allen, 72, was the focus of one of the state's most highly publicized trials in 2002 when prosecutors proved that church members beat children with a belt strap while under Allen's supervision.</p><p>He was sentenced to 90 days in prison and 10 years of probation, but he didn't report to his probation officer and skipped a 2003 hearing. For five months, he eluded police officers until he was arrested in August 2003 by National Park Service rangers who found him in a parked car in a Cobb County park.</p><p>As a result, a judge sentenced him to two years in prison.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2866560)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/7/164836