After more than a day of listening to Bishop Anthony Jinwright describe himself on the witness stand as a busy man of God who may have made some honest mistakes on his federal tax returns, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Brown began his cross-examination Wednesday.

The exchange came late in the session, with less than 30 minutes left in the court day, but Brown wasted no time in attacking the credibility of the 53-year-old preacher.

Twice during Brown’s barrage of questions, Judge Frank Whitney instructed the veteran prosecutor to lower his voice.

Jinwright and his wife, Harriet, who co-pastor Greater Salem City of God, are accused in a multi-count indictment of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. The government says the couple received millions of dollars from the church between 2002 and 2007 but failed to report much of that income on their tax returns.

Harriet Jinwright so far has not taken the stand in her own defense.

In cross-examination Wednesday, Brown sought to remind the jury of the million-dollar homes and luxury cars the Jinwrights enjoyed as co-leaders of Greater Salem.

“You weren’t doing God’s work when you purchased that $1.8 million house, were you?” Brown asked.

“Yes, I was,” Jinwright responded.

“You were so busy doing the Lord’s work,” Brown continued. “But you found time to lease a 2000 Mercedes.”
Time and time again, Jinwright’s attorney objected, accusing the prosecutor of being argumentative.

In the Jinwright’s indictment, the government alleged that the couple used unreported income to lease multiple luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Maybach 57, a Bentley GT, and multiple BMWs and Lexuses.

Those automobile lease applications, in fact, were the foundation for the government’s case that the couple committed mail fraud. Prosecutors allege that the Jinwrights reported higher income totals on the lease applications than they did on their federal tax returns.

Earlier Wednesday under friendly questioning from his own attorney, Jinwright had testified that he was unsure how the conflicting totals found their way to the lease applications. But under persistent questioning from Brown, the preacher conceded that, in each case, that he had supplied the numbers, reviewed the applications and affixed his signature.

Brown also attacked Jinwright’s assertion on Tuesday that his educational training had not given him the accounting background needed to as a senior pastor and business owner.

Brown, who helped prosecute the 1989 case against televangelist Jim Bakker, showed Jinwright records from the courses Jinwright took at a New York mortuary school.

Brown: "You had a year of accounting, didn't you?"

Jinwright: "Yes."

Brown: "So your answers ... yesterday weren't true, were they?"
Jinwright: "Yes, they were. That's accounting pertaining to funeral services. It's not the same thing as pertaining to the public arena."

During earlier testimony Wednesday, Ed Hinson, Jinwright’s lead lawyer, showed the jury dozens of personal checks the Jinwrights wrote to individual ministers and to other ministries. The checks ranged from $10 to $4,000.

In his questioning of Jinwright, Hinson suggested that the pastor gave away much of the money he received from speaking engagements.

None of the checks shown was written to Greater Salem. Jinwright said, however, that he gave a tenth of his earnings to his church.

And for the second straight day, Jinwright expressed remorse – numerous times -- for some of his actions as pastor of Greater Salem.

Jinwright said again that he generally didn’t concern himself with the day-to-day finances of Greater Salem, electing instead to delegate those duties. Previous witnesses testified that the church struggled to pay its bills, even as the Jinwrights traveled on church-funded vacations, received luxury gifts purchased from a church account and accepted a $50,000 pay increase.

“I wasn’t aware of the severity of our challenges,” he said. “My focus was basically on praying, preaching and teaching of the word.”

Brown will resume his cross-examination when court resumes today at 8:30 a.m.
***
Charlotte Observer reporter Eric Frazier contributed to this report.

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