Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Attorney says Joyce Meyer's son traveled with Coleman and his lover

WATERLOO -- Televangelist Joyce Meyer's son traveled with Christopher Coleman and Coleman's Florida girlfriend, said Chicago-area attorney Enrico Mirabelli on Monday after a civil court hearing that seeks to add the Joyce Meyer Ministries as a defendant.

Coleman is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and faces the death penalty in the strangulations of his wife, Sheri Coleman, 32, and his two sons, Gavin, 9 and Garett, 11. They were found May 5 in separate bedrooms of their Columbia home.

Mirabelli made the statement that the accused murderer and his girlfriend, Tara Lintz, of St. Petersburg, Fla., traveled with the famous minister's son as part of Mirabelli's effort to convince a judge that Joyce Meyer Ministries should be added as a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit stemming from the deaths.

Mike King, attorney for Joyce Meyer Ministries, denied the allegations. King would not state whether he will oppose efforts to have Meyer or any of the ministry's employees deposed. King filed objections to convert the ministry to a defendant in the suit on Friday. King also did not waive the necessity of calling witnesses.

"I expect them to fight every step of the way," Mirabelli said. "That's what corporate America does."

The hearing was delayed to allow Mirabelli a chance to depose Meyer, her son, Dan, who is the chief executive officer of Joyce Meyer Ministries, the ministries' Webmaster and Mike Cole, one of Christopher Coleman's co-workers.

Cole was the first person to intercept threatening e-mails sent last year stating that an anonymous person would kill Coleman and his family unless Meyer stopped preaching. Police investigators, according to court documents, have linked Christopher Coleman to the e-mails as their author.

Dan Meyer and Coleman were longtime friends, Mirabelli said.

Mirabelli may also call any one of the four to testify at the probable cause hearing in the civil case that was rescheduled for Dec. 18.

"There is no responsibility on the part of Joyce Meyer Ministries," King said, adding the ministry has cooperated fully with law enforcement.

Police have contended that Coleman murdered his family so he could marry Lintz. The Florida woman, who was a childhood friend of Sheri Coleman, has stated that she will not comment.

Attorneys Jack Carey and Mirabelli, who represent the family of the victims, asked a judge last month to convert Joyce Meyer Ministries from a respondent in discovery to a defendant. Monday's hearing was in support of that motion.

Carey and Mirabelli alleged the ministry knew that Christopher Coleman was having an affair with a Florida woman and should have warned Coleman's family that he was the author of threatening e-mails.

Sheri Coleman's mother, Angela DeCicco, and her brother, Mario Weiss, filed the wrongful death lawsuit weeks after the murder, and named Joyce Meyer Ministries as a respondent in discovery to obtain information related to the suit.

Christopher Coleman remains in the Monroe County Jail without bond. He could face the death penalty if he's convicted of the criminal charges.