Hosanna Church pastor pleads innocent

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:01 pm

"Y'all 'member that time I walked in and confessed to raping kids and dogs, drinking cats' blood and worshipping Satan? That was a joke, son." The former pastor of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula pleaded innocent to charges he and other church members repeatedly raped three children under 12. Louis Lamonica entered the not guilty plea during his arraignment Wednesday. That's when the assistant district attorney told the court the state will not seek the death penalty during Lamonica's trial on charges of aggravated rape of children. Lamonica and six others were indicted June 24th for various counts of aggravated rape. <a href="http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=3566820" target="top">www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=3566820</a>

by **Col Quisp** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:57 pm

Not saying I'm an expert, but it's fairly typical for a criminal defendant to plead not guilty at an arraignment. Then the deals begin. They can always change their plea later. In fact, if the defendant doesn't have an attorney, I've seen judges enter a NG plea as a matter of course. That way, no one can say their due process rights were violated.

by **professorpan** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:39 pm

The latest: 6 suspects enter innocent pleas Group accused of raping children By DEBRA LEMOINE Florida parishes bureau AMITE -- Six of nine members of a Ponchatoula church congregation accused of raping children pleaded innocent Thursday in 21st Judicial District Court at Amite. During the brief arraignment hearing for the defendants, Assistant District Attorney Don Wall told state District Judge Beth Wolfe that he won't seek the death penalty for any of the six formally charged with aggravated rape of a juvenile. Prosecutors have the option of seeking the death penalty in aggravated rape cases in which the victims are under age 12. Instead, the accused face life in prison if convicted. One at a time Thursday, each of the accused told Judge Wolfe that he or she pleaded "not guilty," and their case was assigned to a judge and given a hearing date. Whether a judge will set bond for any of the accused will be determined on Monday, said Gary Jordan, a defense attorney for one of the suspects. The six were indicted June 24 along with former Hosanna Church Pastor Louis David Lamonica, 45, of Tickfaw. They were charged with repeatedly raping three children from 2000 to 2001. Lamonica pleaded innocent Wednesday after his preliminary hearing. Two other church members, Nicole Bernard, 36, of Columbus, Ohio, and Lois Ann Mowbray, 54, of Ponchatoula have been arrested but have not been formally charged by the state. The six who entered not guilty pleas on Thursday are Robbin Lamonica, 45, of Holden and five Hammond residents: Christopher Labat, 24; Austin "Trey" Bernard III, 36; Paul Fontenot, 21; Patricia Pierson, 54; and Allen R. Pierson, 46. Outside the courthouse Thursday, Jordan, who represents Labat, told reporters that he believes the state is not seeking the death penalty because prosecutors have a weak case, especially considering the lack of physical evidence in the case. In previous hearings, a Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's detective has said that investigators found little physical evidence and that medical examinations of the children show no evidence of abuse. Wall has said in the past that the confessions of Louis David Lamonica and Austin Bernard and the statements by the three children are enough to gain a guilty verdict. Wall also has said that he is talking to attorneys for Mowbray and Nicole Bernard in an attempt to reach a deal for their cooperation. Some defense attorneys believe that Mowbray is the ringleader of the group and "brainwashed" the others into performing the sex acts, Jordan said. The hearing is the outcome of a two-month investigation into the alleged crimes of nine members of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula. Authorities believe the nine raped three children from 1999 to 2003. The occult has been suggested as a motive for the crimes, but no evidence of occult-type activities has been found, sheriff's Detective Mike DePhillips has testified. The detective was called to the witness stand during hearings for the defendants on Wednesday and last week. The alleged occult connection also is not part of the court case as it stands, Wall has said. DePhillips has mentioned in court that at least four other former church members were interviewed by authorities in the case. None of the four were arrested, and the investigation remains open, DePhillips has said. Click here to return to story: <a href="http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/070805/pol_suspects001.shtml">www.2theadvocate.com/stor...s001.shtml</a>

by **Ted the dog** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:33 pm

"Outside the courthouse Thursday, Jordan, who represents Labat, told reporters that he believes the state is not seeking the death penalty because prosecutors have a weak case, especially considering the lack of physical evidence in the case." *sigh* this is so typical. this is just going to be McMartin part 2....only more outrageous since the cops didn't even know the crimes existed until Lamonica waltzed into the police station and confessed to them. They only have a weak case because they whittled the case down to the word of three kids. They say that: -they supposedly can't use the initial confessions -they're claiming that there's no physical evidence, even though the people that confessed, say that there are video tapes and photos galore -the detective that was put on the stand said that he "couldn't recall" if medical examiners that examined the three children found physical signs of rape and abuse. How can the detective not recall a crucial piece of evidence like that? ....especially when the paper has stated that the children were sent to a hospital that specializes in examining sexually abused children? the only reason I can see for such a cryptic answer is that maybe signs of physical abuse were NOT found, but the detective doesn't want to let it go that easily because he knows something he's not telling. But just because the signs of physical abuse were not found, doesn't mean the kids weren't abused. I understand that the prosecution is kicking the occult stuff out to try and get a conviction, but there's more going on here than just ignoring the "mumbo jumbo" elements of the case. I don't quite understand what IS going on, though.

by **professorpan** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:59 pm

I posted the many links to evidence and reports of confessions on my blog. I mean, for Christ's sake, there was a fucking pentagram on the floor of the church! Not to mention the seizure of stuff from a storage shed which included bags of costumes and a friggin' sword. It seems once the Feds were called in to the case the ritual elements were de-emphasized. I think too much has leaked out for the ritual elements to be kept out of this story. The genie is out of the bottle. There are two possible scenarios I can discern: 1. Lamonica told the truth. The others told the truth. The cops seized the evidence they said they did. And someone is trying to keep a lid on this. 2. Lamonica is disturbed and made up a story of a cult. The others went along with his story, for some unknown reason. A frenzy of rumors and innuendo about evidence -- pentagrams, costumes -- caught the attention of reporters from the local level on up to the NYT and AP. The Sheriff and the cops lied about evidence. There was no occult aspect to any of the alleged pedophile activity. None. Yeah. That about sums it up.

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:12 pm

is the role, if any, the FBI played in eliminating the occult elements of the story. And why is the FBI involved? Is it because one of the suspects and her child-victim had fled to Ohio?

by **Sepka** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:56 pm

I'd suggest that in all likelihood, the occult elements are being ignored by collusion of the prosecution and defense, because each perceives such a tactic as favouring their own interests. From the prosecution's standpoint, mention of Satanism introduces a chance that the jury will simply ignore the rest of the evidence, because of the inevitable comparisons in the jury's minds to <a href="http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_2_1.htm">McMartin</a> and <a href="http://www.ags.uci.edu/~dehill/witchhunt/cases/akiki.htm">Akiki</a>. From the standpoint of the defense, mention of Satanism introduces a chance of inflaming a Bible-belt jury. Both perceive their chances as being better if the charges sidestep the motive altogether. The sad and ironic thing is that here, where there actually is strongly documented evidence of a Satanic cult, the prosecution can't make use of it, because well-meaning opponents of Satanism have in the past cried 'wolf' too often. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=sepka>Sepka</A> at: 7/8/05 1:07 pm

by **Sepka** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:29 pm

And, because I seem to be not bright enough to master the editting system here... I'd suggest that in all likelihood, the occult elements are being ignored by collusion of the prosecution and defense, because each perceives such a tactic as favouring their own interests. From the prosecution's standpoint, mention of Satanism introduces a chance that the jury will simply ignore the rest of the evidence, because of the inevitable comparisons in the jury's minds to <a href="http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_2_1.htm">McMartin</a> and <a href="http://www.ags.uci.edu/~dehill/witchhunt/cases/akiki.htm">Akiki</a>. From the standpoint of the defense, mention of Satanism introduces a chance of inflaming a Bible-belt jury. Both perceive their chances as being better if the charges sidestep the motive altogether. The sad and ironic thing is that here, where there actually is strongly documented evidence of a Satanic cult, the prosecution can't make use of it, because well-meaning opponents of Satanism have in the past cried 'wolf' far too often.

by **professorpan** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:54 pm

I can't find more details about the FBI involvement in the published reports, but I'll continue digging. One other possibly pertinent point -- Lamonica and several other of the accused were beaten up in prison. Accused and convicted pedophiles are frequently the targets of violence in prisons. Many prisoners are parents, and they don't take kindly to thinking perverts on the outside are raping kids. Pedophiles are the lowest rung of the ladder in prisons. Maybe that's all there is to it. But if you wanted to shut someone up? Someone who was too glib about ritual abuse? Send a prisoner or two to tell them to keep their mouths shut, rough them up a bit, and suddenly they start saying they made all that occult, Satanic business up. Just for kicks, to spice up their boring pedophilic rape charges. <a href="http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4556044/detail.html">www.theneworleanschannel....etail.html</a> They also confirmed that Lamonica was attacked by other inmates shortly after he was booked into the Livingston Parish Jail. Two other suspects in the case, Nicole Bernard and another woman whom police declined to name, were also apparently threatened, and Bernard was attacked Friday night, investigators said. Bernard was moved Tuesday to St. Tammany Parish, but the other woman declined to be relocated. Neither Bernard's nor Lamonica's injuries were severe

by **profpan** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:28 am

Man, the digger you dig into this particular case... The weird stuff is coming fast and furious. I'm putting it all on my blog, but I'll post some of the particulars here because I'm afraid that some of the pages I'm referencing will disappear as fast as the bags of costumes pulled from the Hosanna Church storage shed. District Attorney Scott Perrilloux, who is in charge of the case (the DA's office effectively took over the case) has been accused of letting a child murderer off the hook just last year. <a href="http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4266">www.forumsforjustice.org/...php?t=4266</a> <a href="http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2005/02/02/top_stories/news01.txt">www.hammondstar.com/artic...news01.txt</a> And the Detective who first handled the case, Mike DePhillips, shares the name with "Pastor" or "Brother" Mike DePhillips, who wrote the self-published book "Living Under the Shadow!" And he's the President of "Altar Call Ministries." More at my site: <a href="http://www.charm.net/~profpan">www.charm.net/~profpan</a>

Hosanna Church pastor pleads innocent

Hosanna Church pastor pleads innocent

Re: Hosanna Church pastor pleads innocent

Re: Hosanna Church pastor pleads innocent

...

My thoughts

What would be interesting to discover

Re: What would be interesting to discover

Re: What would be interesting to discover

Re: What would be interesting to discover

More updates on Hosanna Cult

Who is online