Nation : Evangelist Pleads Poverty

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Flamboyant evangelist John Wesley Fletcher, who paid Jessica Hahn’s way to Florida for her tryst with Jim Bakker, said today he is poor as a church mouse and needs a court-appointed attorney for his perjury trial.

Fletcher, making an initial court appearance after being charged two weeks ago with lying to the grand jury that indicted Bakker, said he doesn’t have a dime to his name and cannot possibly pay for his own defense.

“I have nothing except the clothes on my back,” Fletcher, dapperly attired in a dark gray designer suit and blue pinstriped shirt, told U.S. Magistrate Paul Taylor.

There was no mention during the 20-minute court appearance of the $500,000 Fletcher was reportedly paid last year by Penthouse magazine for his kiss-and-tell story about sexual escapades at PTL while Bakker was in charge.

The magistrate agreed to name an attorney to represent the twice-defrocked evangelist.