Attorneys for Brenda Lamothe, the reverend who has taken First AME Church Pastor and head John J. Hunter to court over allegations of sexual harassment, on Friday released evidence they say proves Lamothe was being employed by the church at the time she alleges Hunter coerced her to have sex as part of “God's will.”

Lamothe's side argues that Hunter's lawyers played a dirty trick by demonstrating that Lamothe had resigned from the church on Sept. 10, 2008, long before she says she cut ties with First AME — last June — casting some doubt about her claims. However, Lamothe's representatives released documents showing she indeed stayed on at the church as a part-time preacher at least through April of this year.

Solomon Gresen of the law offices of Rheuban & Gresen says the release of Hunter's Sept., 2008 resignation letter was a trick to throw off the media: She soon asked for and received part-time preaching work while she moved on to work full-time in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

“The release of this letter could only have been for the purpose of misleading the media and the general public into believing that the employment relationship ended on September 10, 2008,” said Gresen. “Why else release only the first of the two letters delivered by Rev. Lamothe to Pastor Hunter on September 10, 2008?”

See our original post about Lamothe's allegations here. She our post about First AME's response here.

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