Nation IN BRIEF : NORTH CAROLINA : Charges Against PTL Pastor Dismissed

A federal judge in Charlotte, N. C., dismissed perjury charges against PTL pastor Samuel Johnson, saying the government’s case against Jim Bakker’s spiritual successor was circumstantial. The decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Potter made Johnson, 50, the first of five PTL defendants to emerge from court a free man. Potter acted on a defense motion to dismiss the case after the government presented only four witnesses and rested its case. The government had contended that Johnson perjured himself when he told the grand jury that indicted Bakker that he could not remember the source of $10,000 he gave to PTL deputy Richard Dortch, who paid it to Jessica Hahn to keep silent about a tryst with Bakker.