Lawyer wants Joyce Meyer testimony

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A lawyer for a slaying victim's family says he wants to get a sworn statement from U.S. televangelist Joyce Meyer, and her son, a ministry executive.

Attorney Enrico Mirabelli, who is representing relatives of the slain wife of Meyer employee Christopher Coleman in a wrongful death lawsuit, says the evangelist's "no-divorce" policy for her staff may have led Coleman to kill his wife, Sheri Coleman, and their two young sons this year, the St. Louis (Mo.) Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said Mirabelli contends Coleman, 32, was having an extramarital affair with Tara Lintz, and wanted to be with her but feared losing his job as a bodyguard with Meyer's worldwide ministry if he tried to dissolve his marriage.

The lawyer also alleges that Joyce Meyer's son Dan Meyer, a ministry official, was a close friend of Coleman's and knew of his affair with Lintz.

Ministry lawyer Michael King wouldn't tell the newspaper if he would oppose Joyce Meyer giving a deposition or testifying in court.

Coleman has been charged with first-degree murder and is awaiting trial.