Henry Lyons Drops Appeal
Of Theft Convictions
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The disgraced former leader of the biggest black church organization in the United States has dropped an appeal of his state theft and racketeering convictions, his lawyer said Wednesday.Henry Lyons, 57, former president of the National Baptist Convention, was convicted Feb. 28 on state charges of defrauding about $4 million from several companies that wanted to do business with the church group. He began serving a 5 1/2 year sentence in a Florida prison March 31.
Lyons also was found guilty of keeping money that the Anti-Defamation League of the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith donated to rebuild black churches that were burned in a spate of arson attacks.
He resigned as president of the National Baptist Convention March 16, a day before he pleaded guilty to five federal charges including tax evasion and fraud.
Despite the guilty pleas in the federal case, Lyons appealed his state convictions, saying Pinellas County Judge Susan Schaeffer should not have allowed testimony about his extramarital affairs at the trial because it prejudiced the jury.
Lyons' attorney Denis de Vlaming said in a telephone interview that Lyons had instructed him to drop the appeal.
"This action is being taken in an effort to put an end to the litigation surrounding this case and to accept responsibility for the conduct in question," he said.
Lyons is to be sentenced June 18 in U.S. District Court in Tampa on the federal charges.
De Vlaming said he hoped the federal judge would allow Lyons to serve his federal sentence concurrently with the state sentence.
The federal and state investigations that led to the charges against Lyons began after his wife set fire to a $700,000 house in St. Petersburg in July 1997. Lyons owned the house with Bernice Edwards, the convention's public relations director.
June 2, 1999
Source: Newswire
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