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Writer Says Scrushy Paid Her for Articles
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Audry Lewis, who is not related to Jesse Lewis Sr., said she initially wrote the columns and submitted them to the paper for free because she believed Scrushy was innocent. Scrushy liked the pieces and began paying her to write the articles midway through the case, she said. "He didn't think he was getting a fair shake in the media, which is why he hired me," she said in an interview.
Scrushy said he had considered her to be "a nice Christian woman that thought we had been treated badly and she wanted to help." He said that he didn't pay her to write anything and that he "hit the ceiling" when he learned the PR firm had paid Henderson.
Audry Lewis said she sent unedited copies of her stories to Scrushy and Jesse Lewis Sr., who had them put in the paper. Scrushy said he looked at some of her stories before publication "to make sure the facts from the trial were correct."
Documents obtained by the AP show the Lewis Group wrote $5,000 checks to Audry Lewis and Henderson on April 29, 2005 -- the day Scrushy hired the company. Audry Lewis said she later got an additional $6,000 from Scrushy that was routed through the public relations firm.
Separately, a Colorado public relations man who worked for Scrushy, Charles Russell, said he gave Audry Lewis $2,500 during the trial and signed a contract stating the money was an advance payment for possible work after the verdict.
No such work was done, but Russell denied the payment was for her stories. Russell said he gave Audry Lewis money mainly out of sympathy when one of her relatives died in Detroit and she could not afford to go to the funeral.
Scrushy gave Henderson's Believers Temple Church and an associated thrift store five checks totaling $25,000 during and after the trial, according to copies of checks provided by Henderson. Henderson, who employs Audry Lewis at his church, said he was paid for his efforts to rally support for the defendant.
Bishop James Johnson of Miracle Deliverers Church in Birmingham said he went to Scrushy's trial at Henderson's urging. Johnson said Wednesday that he was not paid to attend but that Scrushy did give a donation to his church; he declined to say how much.
