The Nation - News from Sept. 6, 1989

Evangelist Jim Bakker suffered stress and not mental illness when he collapsed Thursday, his wife said. “After 2 1/2 years of sheer mental torture, he was just stressed out,” Tammy Faye Bakker said in a taped statement telecast on the Jim and Tammy Show. Meanwhile, Bakker’s lawyers filed a motion seeking a mistrial on grounds that the collapse of a witness during defense cross-examination last week in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, N.C., prejudiced the jury. The U.S. Marshal’s Office said a hearing would be held today to determine if Bakker is competent to stand trial on fraud and conspiracy charges.