In the first court appearance in Atlanta, both sides told the judge they wanted to wrap this case up swiftly so that they can go into mediation talks. But the order of the scheduled witnesses is under dispute by the lawyers.
Jamal Parris, the first of Long’s accusers to speak out about the case of alleged sexual misconduct by the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, is also the first witness scheduled to testify in the case. But Long’s attorney’s delayed the proceedings by asking for “clarification“ of the judge‘s orders.
There is doubt that the case will be resolved quickly because the scheduled list of testimonies for both sides is quite lengthy and include many witnesses that have never been mentioned before. B.J. Bernstein remains confident.
“We are going to be staunch about what happened and what our clients suffered,” says B.J. Bernstein, lawyer for the four alleged victims told Fox 5 Atlanta. Bernstein accused Bishop Long’s lawyers of wanting to “have their cake and eat it too” by scheduling the sworn depositions of all four accusers this week.
Bishop Long’s lawyers want to hear the four accusers’ testimonies first before Long provides his under oath.
Bernstein countered by scheduling Bishop Long’s videotaped sworn deposition for Monday morning. Long’s lawyers then stated that Bernstein’s request was an “improper show of gamesmanship and bad faith” and requested that the deposition be halted.
The judge in the case stepped in and said that the order of the witnesses offered by Bernstein, the lawyer for the accusers, was “reasonable.“ If that’s the case, Parris will be the first to offer sworn testimony in the case. –terry shropshire
