Free Republic

A black Georgia teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at his high school nine years ago was killed in a bizarre accident, a new report concluded. Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk ruled out any crime related to the 2013 death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson at Lowndes High School in Valdosta. Paul reopened the case in March in the face of theories that someone killed the teen and officials covered up the truth. “All of the evidence, testimony, interviews, grand jury testimony and even the blunt coercion and intimidation of some persons being questioned does not produce anything to...

ATLANTA — An evangelical pastor whose leadership of an Atlanta-area megachurch ended in a sex scandal has died. Atlanta Medical Center said Archbishop Earl Paulk, who was in his 80s, died early Sunday. The hospital could not release a cause of death. Paulk had been in bad health for the past couple of years after a battle with cancer. A phone listing for Paulk's family could not immediately be found. Paulk co-founded the Cathedral at Chapel Hill in Decatur and helped grow it to a peak membership of about 10,000 in the early 1990s. A lawsuit by a female employee...

ATLANTA - The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch has been charged with lying under oath, court documents show. A warrant for the arrest of Archbishop Earl Paulk, co-founder of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, was issued Monday, according to court documents. Paulk was making arrangements Monday night to turn himself in to authorities, WAGA-TV reported. Paulk's attorneys did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press for comment. Former church employee Mona Brewer is suing Paulk, his brother, Don, and the church for allegedly manipulating her into an affair from 1989 to 2003...