An Atlanta pastor jailed for beating two boys inside his independent church asked a judge for a new trial Thursday. After hearing arguments, Judge T. Jackson Bedford said he would issue a written decision on the motion at a later date.
Allen's new lawyer, Deborah Poole, contends the trial judge erred by allowing Allen to defend himself at his original trial. The prosecutor countered that Allen had plenty of time to obtain representation.
Allen was convicted in October 2002 on charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to children and ordered to serve two months in jail.
After completing his sentence, the reverend failed to appear at a March 2003 hearing and refused to follow his probation guidelines, which included attending anger management classes and to abstain from whipping children.
Rev. Allen defied authorities for five months before U.S. Park Rangers found him, his wife and their eight children on Sope Creek Road near Johnson Ferry Road, in North Fulton County. Judge Bedford subsequently sentenced Rev. Allen to two years in prison for violating probation.
During the investigation into the church, 49 children of House of Prayer members were taken into state custody when their parents refused to stop whipping them. All but the two boys at the center of Allen’s conviction – then ages 10 and 7 years old – remain in the custody of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children’s Services.