Evangelist Matt Pitt, founder of The Basement youth ministry, is scheduled to go to trial by jury starting Monday in Jefferson County on a felony charge that he impersonated a law enforcement officer in 2013.

Pitt said he hopes his upcoming trial will help clear his name of the Jefferson County charge, following his previous guilty plea to a similar charge in Shelby County.

"I'm just ready for all this to be over," Pitt told AL.com at the preliminary hearing that set his court date for April 20.

Pitt's attorneys, Nikki Bonner, Carmella Penn and Brian Ritchey, met with Judge Tommy Nail and Deputy District Attorney William McComb during a preliminary appearance in November. Penn said then Pitt has no plans to plead guilty, as he did in Shelby County in 2012 when he was charged with impersonating an officer after Calera Police pulled him over for flashing blue lights on Interstate 65. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, was placed on probation, and was found to have violated his probation when he was arrested in Jefferson County.

"We're ramping up for trial," Penn said after Pitt's last court appearance. "Our client is just looking for his day in court."

Pitt is ready to set the record straight about what happened when he encountered two men in June 2013 and Pitt allegedly showed a badge and claimed to be with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department as he picked up a gun that had been left in the woods, Penn said.

"We're hoping for a not guilty verdict," Penn said. "That's a given."

Pitt continues to lead the youth ministry, which meets weekly at a warehouse in Roebuck. He started the ministry in the basement of his home in Huffman and it grew into one of the largest youth ministries in the country, drawing crowds of 7,000 or more and leading to a national TV program for Pitt.

After he was arrested Aug. 20, 2013, on the Jefferson County charge, Pitt had his probation revoked and was ordered to serve his one-year suspended sentence from his first conviction in 2012. He was released by Shelby County on Palm Sunday in 2014 after he spent about eight months in jail.

In documents filed with Jefferson County Circuit Court, McComb said the state plans to present evidence from Pitt's previous incidents of using his honorary badge. The state is expected to call Deputy Cameron Johnson, with the Walton County Florida Sheriff's Department, who stopped Pitt for speeding on Oct. 19, 2011. Prosecutors say that in that traffic stop, Pitt showed an honorary badge in his lap in an attempt to get out of the speeding ticket.

Penn said today that a motion has been filed to block presentation of the other incidents.

"It's all smoke and mirrors," she said. "It's different circumstances. All we're concerned about is what happened on this day in question. There was no intent to impersonate. They're wanting the jury to make that leap."

The prosecution has also asked the judge for permission to call Calera police officers to testify about Pitt's arrest in September 2012, when Calera officers pulled him over on Interstate 65 for using flashing blue lights to pass other motorists.

"The State argues that the Defendant's repetitive nature in showing his badge and claiming to be a deputy is evidence of a common plan to avoid responsibility for breaking the law," the prosecution said in its motion. :On two separate occasions, the Defendant has claimed to be a peace officer in nearly the same manner as has been alleged in the instant case. In each case, as in the instant case, the Defendant has claimed to be a deputy while showing his honorary badge. The Defendant's multiple attempts to fool real peace officers by using such a badge is also evidence that it was no mistake in presenting the same badge to witnesses on this case. The Defendant has a history of intentionally claiming to be law enforcement in order to cloak his activities under a legitimate light."

Penn said a motion is being filed asking the judge to dismiss the charges, based on the account of one of the two witnesses that he was not led to believe Pitt was impersonating an officer.

Pitt is in good spirits, but realizes the seriousness of the situation, Penn said today. "He realizes that this is a jury trial; there is a jury," she said. "It's out of his hands at this point."

The charge is a class C felony, which carries a prison sentence of no less than one year and one day and no more than 10 years if a defendant is found guilty.