Destiny pastor awaiting DA’s decision on indictment
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Charges against Destiny Worship Center Pastor Bernard Bishop — arrested December 5 and accused of trying to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband into Fountain Correctional Facility Annex — were dropped during a preliminary hearing held Monday (February 10) at the county courthouse.
Bishop’s attorney, Jerome C. Carter of Mobile, said he and his client are “very happy” about District Court Judge Eric Coale’s decision to dismiss the case brought against Bishop by Alabama Department of Corrections (ALDOC) investigators, although they’re not openly celebrating just yet.
There’s at least one more legal stumbling block they will have to face, he explained.
“We’re reserving the celebration until we find out if (District Attorney Steve Billy) is going to seek an indictment,” Carter said. “He can still present it to a grand jury if he wants to. But a DA’s main job is not to win or lose a case, it’s to serve the interest of justice, so we hope he’ll let this thing stay where it is. That’s where we are right now.”
Circuit Clerk John R. Fountain said Monday he was unable to send electronic proof of the judge’s ruling due to a problem with a data transmission line but confirmed he was told the state’s case against Bishop would not proceed.
“We have a fiber optic cable that is out up here, so I can’t send any proof right now,” the circuit clerk said. “But I was told the charges were dismissed at the preliminary.”
Neither the DA’s office nor ALDOC put any witnesses on the stand or offered any evidence at the hearing, Fountain said.
The local pastor, who also counsels inmates at Fountain, has been free, under a $500,000 bond, since December 6. He refused to resign his ALDOC position and has been on mandatory leave since his arrest.
Carter, who maintained from the onset that his client had been set up, said several dozen people, including Atmore Mayor Jim Staff, gathered inside the courtroom and on the courthouse lawn to show their support for the popular preacher.
“Just about Pastor Bishop’s whole congregation was there,” the lawyer said. “There were at least 60 people, and a loud, thunderous cheer went up outside the courthouse when they heard the charges had been dismissed.”
ALDOC officials said in a press release issued immediately after the arrest that Bishop had come under suspicion after investigators and correctional officers noted “suspicious activity involving inmates attempting to access a parking lot near Bishop’s vehicle.”
ALDOC’s Intelligence and Investigations unit arrested Bishop after the contraband was discovered inside a “prison-made package” that had been wedged into the space beneath his truck’s bumper. The package reportedly contained about two ounces of flakka (which is similar to the street drug, “bath salts”), as well as unspecified quantities of marijuana, tobacco, cell phones, knives and other items.
The prison counselor was booked into the county jail on one count each of drug trafficking, first-degree possession of marijuana, attempting to commit a controlled substance crime, attempting to promote prison contraband and possession of drug paraphernalia.
ALDOC officials had not responded by Tuesday’s press deadline to an emailed request for comment on the hearing.