Judge Hears Bakker Plea to Cut Sentence

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Former PTL leader Jim Bakker is prepared to accept responsibility for actions that led to his being convicted of fleecing his followers to support a lavish lifestyle, a defense attorney said Thursday.

Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, blew kisses to supporters prior to a resentencing hearing in which he is trying to convince a federal judge that his initial 45-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy is too harsh.

The sentence was thrown out on appeal, and U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen on Thursday began considering a new sentence.

Bakker, 51, has spent nearly two years in prison in Rochester, Minn., following his October, 1989, conviction on 24 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. In March, Mullen refused to set bond for the former PTL leader, saying attorneys failed to prove that Bakker would not flee while awaiting resentencing.

Defense attorney Alan M. Dershowitz complained Thursday that prosecutors were attempting to retry the case and said he was concerned that he would be required to present a defense for his client.

“Bakker is here today to accept responsibility for what he did,” Dershowitz told the judge.

Mullen said the courts are given broad latitude in sentencing matters and said both sides will get the chance to present their case. Mullen said he hoped to conclude the hearing by today.

Prosecutors on Thursday referred to the posh condominiums and luxury cars that Bakker enjoyed with his wife after overbooking PTL lodgings, which brought $158 million to the television ministry between 1984 and 1987.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jerry Miller recounted testimony from some of the victims of the fraud scheme, including a mother of 13 who used money from a settlement of her husband’s black lung case to buy a time-share known as a “partnership.”

“There were 25,000 lifetime partners who were able to use their privileges each year, and there were 95,000 others who didn’t get that opportunity,” Miller said.

Prosecutors have said that Bakker has not admitted guilt, and they requested that the 45-year sentence be reimposed. They said he would be eligible for parole in 10 years.

In February, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Bakker’s conviction but threw out the 45-year sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter.

During sentencing, Potter said Bakker “had no thought whatever about his victims, and those of us who do have a religion are ridiculed as being saps (for) money-grubbing preachers or priests.”

The appeals court said Bakker must be resentenced because Potter’s remarks were “too intemperate to be ignored.”