Jim Bakker: Miscarriage of Justice? - Hardcover

Albert, James

9780812693690: Jim Bakker: Miscarriage of Justice?

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812693698 ISBN 13: 9780812693690

Publisher: Open Court, 1999

Watched in more homes than Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, Jim Bakker's PTL Club was the most popular religious TV program of all time. But Bakker's empire collapsed when he was indicted by a federal grand jury for television fraud. He was found guilty after a tumultuous five-week trial, then sentenced to 45 years in prison by presiding judge "Maximum Bob" Potter. Evidence of intentional fraud on Bakker's part was weak. Videotapes of past PTL programs that would have helped Bakker's defense were never seen by the jury. What the jury did hear about were million-dollar salaries, corporate jets, and air-conditioned doghouses. James A. Albert is a law professor, trial lawyer, and expert on broadcast law. He is not a Pentecostalist or a follower of Bakker's. His curiosity piqued by strange and alarming details of the trial (including reports that the religious beliefs of some of Bakker's witnesses were held up to ridicule in the courtroom), Professor Albert thoroughly investigated the Bakker story. He scrutinized 4,000 pages of trial transcript and conducted exclusive interviews with Bakker, the witnesses, lawyers, and jurors. The result is an exciting courtroom drama. At the same time, Albert tries to understand how someone who may well have been innocent of the crimes with which he was charged could have been brought so low.

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From Library Journal:

Albert, a trial attorney and Drake University law professor, helped with imprisoned televangelist Jim Bakker's probation appeal. He claims that Bakker was badly treated during his 1989 fraud trial and that he was never guilty of fraud in a legal sense. This book traces the entire story of the Bakkers' ministry, centering on how their Heritage USA Christian resort led to their downfall. While Albert does not sugarcoat the Bakkers, portraying them as shallow, greedy, vain, and insensitive, he attempts to prove that, under different circumstances, there could have been a hung jury. His prose is graceless at times, and the work would have benefitted from cutting. However, Albert does offer a thought-provoking overview of one of the more bizarre trials of recent years.?Richard S. Watts, San Bernardino Cty. Lib., Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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