COVINGTON, La. — The sex crimes trial against former long-time St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain continues Tuesday after a three-day break over Halloween Weekend.
The trial's first two days of testimony last week were incredibly graphic, with two accusers giving detailed accounts of the sexual abuse they claim Strain inflicted on them.
Prosecutors say they plan to bring more than 30 witnesses to the stand over the course of the trial. Testimony is expected to last for at least another week.
WWL-TV reporters Erika Ferrando and Sam Winstrom are at the Covington Courthouse and will provide updates throughout the day on the latest proceedings of the trial.
Ed. Note: WWL-TV is not naming sexual abuse victims testifying in this case due to the nature of the alleged crimes.
Here's the latest from the trial, where witness testimony is at the heart of the accusations against Strain:
Live Updates:
3rd accuser testifies: Said he did everything he could not to testify
Jack Strain’s third accuser took the witness stand Tuesday to give another round of emotional testimony.
Strain’s third accuser, a relative, said that Strain molested him once as a teenager.
Defense attorney Billy Gibbens said that the alleged victim came to him personally, saying the FBI and DAs office forced him to say he was abused by Strain and threatened him into testifying.
The accuser responded, saying he didn’t want to testify and that he did everything he could to get out of it, but the truth is that Strain molested him and that’s why he’s on the witness stand today.
Strain accuser got special privileges to keep quiet, prosecutors allege
Prosecutors are holding up the time one of Jack Strain’s accusers was arrested, then released, as an example of the special treatment Finn received to keep his mouth shut.
Finn, a self described career criminal with multiple drug-related arrests, claims he received special treatment at the st Tammany parish jail so that he’d keep Strains abuse a secret.
In 2012, he was arrested after being in a car that was pulled over with meth making equipment inside. He was never charged in the case.
One witness said that Finn “needed a badge” the way he walked around the prison.
Two witnesses testify to bolster sexual abuse testimony heard last week
Two witnesses testified Tuesday as the district attorney’s office looked to strengthen the testimony given by Mark Finn, who testified that former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain raped him several times as a child.
The first witness to take the stand was Thomas Mitchell, a licensed physician who testified both as an expert witness and as Finn’s counselor for about 9 months. First, Assistant District Attorney Collin Sims asked Mitchell several questions aimed at answering one of the big questions the jury may be struggling with: If Jack Strain raped both men as children, why did they maintain such closer relationships with him into adulthood?
Mitchell said that it’s very common for victims to go back to their abusers, even as adults. They may even feel some security in making their abuser happy, believing that if they’re happy they won’t hurt them again.
The counselor laid out the process of how a child is groomed by a predator. Starting with gift giving and taking them places to build their trust. They then establishing a private relationship with them where they can keep secrets from others before molesting or raping them. The ultimate goal, Mitchell said, is control.
After that grooming process takes place, Mitchell testified that it’s more common for a victim to never talk about what happened to them than it is for them to tell police or another adult. That bottled up trauma can lead to PTSD. Mitchell said that Finn has “one of the worst cases of PTSD I’ve ever treated.”
“The trauma didn’t stop at 12,” Mitchell said.
Defense attorney Gwyneth O’Neill suggested that Mitchell’s treatment of Finn may be motivated by the civil suit Finn has filed against Strain. She drew a connection between Finn’s attorney in that case, former head of the Northshore DA’s office civil division Tony Le Mon, and Mitchell, who works with law enforcement during investigations into child sex crimes.
O’Neill called it “convenient” that Le Mon would take on Finn’s case and pay for an evaluation from Mitchell, who would later treat Finn pro-bono. But Mitchell said that he did not initially know about the civil case or the criminal case against Strain and was only doing his job to help Mark Finn heal.
O’Neill also suggested that Finn’s symptoms may be more in line with Borderline Personality Disorder rather than PTSD. Mitchell said he was confident in his diagnosis. O’Neill countered by saying that even if Finn does have PTSD, there were several traumatic events in his life that could have caused it. Mitchell agreed, but noted that Finn has nightmares about being drowned, which are likely connected to the alleged sexual abuse he suffered in a pond at the Strain family home. Finn never mentioned nightmares that connect to any other traumatic events he experienced, including being in a car crash and seeing someone die when he was just a child, according to Mitchell.
Attorney Brian Trainor was the second witness called to the stand Tuesday.
Trainor was legal counsel and held multiple leadership positions at the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office from 2010-16 under former sheriff Jack Strain.
Trainor testified that Mark Finn got special treatment as a trustee compared to the other inmates at the jail. Last week, Finn said he got that special treatment to buy his silence. Trainor said he assumed it was because of the family connections Finn and Strain had as children growing up in Abita Springs.
The defense found their footing questioning Trainor, using him to challenge the idea that Strain ran the sheriff’s office “like a dictator,” and had complete control over what Finn did while he was incarcerated.
Trainor testified that it’s the district attorney’s office who determines who gets charged with what and that it’s the Dept. of Corrections that decides who enters the trustee program, not the sheriff. Both of those points contradict the suggestion that Strain used his power to keep Mark Finn close while he was incarcerated.
He said that while Strain and Finn were close, he never saw Strain do anything inappropriate or abuse his power to keep Finn out of trouble.
The trial will continue after lunch.
Counselor testifies on trauma from sexual abuse
Mark Finn’s counselor, Thomas Mitchell, took the stand Tuesday morning.
Mitchell testified as an expert witness, giving insight into how victims of sexual abuse process that trauma and the impact it can have on their lives.
According to Thomas, it’s extremely common for victims and their abusers to have the sort of relationship Finn, as well as the first accuser to testify, had with Jack Strain.
He said that most perpetrators of child abuse are family members or friends who groom their victims, giving them gifts and building trust.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Gwyneth O’Neill questioned how the counselor came to treat Finn, pointing out Thomas’ connection to the DA’s office.
She also questioned whether Finn’s PTSD diagnosis could have been caused by one of several other traumatic events in his life, or possibly a misdiagnosis. She suggested borderline personality disorder instead.
The court is in a brief recess and a new witness will take the stand when court resumes.
Trial Recap:
In shackles and a striped jumpsuit, Jack Strain’s second accuser took the witness stand Friday.
While his mother watched, Mark Finn gave the most graphic testimony yet in the Strain sex crimes trial, describing years of alleged molestation and rape by the former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff starting when he was just 6-years-old.
“Mom, I’m sorry you’ve got to hear this,” Finn said.
Finn, a self-described career criminal, broke his silence about Strain’s alleged abuse in an exclusive interview with WWL-TV and The New Orleans Advocate in 2019. Finn will be the only one of Strain’s accusers WWL-TV will identify.
Referring to Strain as “monster and a predator,” Finn recalled what he described as the most “degrading” and “shameful” moments in his life.
“He’d think it was funny,” Finn said, staring down Strain in the courtroom. “I’ll never forget how he laughs.”
Finn said the sexual abuse would turn even more violent when the two boys would go back to Strain’s bedroom. It was there that Finn said Strain began anally raping him.
“I didn’t even know what sex was,” Finn said. “I didn’t know what was going on. It hurt me.”
Finn was emotional during his testimony, sobbing heavily and stopping to do breathing exercises to calm himself, but it wasn’t until cross-examination from Gibbens that he completely lost his cool. Gibbens asked why his accusations against his client had changed, showing earlier interviews where he claimed Strain never penetrated him – a direct contradiction to what he said in court Friday.
“You’re a man, aren’t you?” Finn said, rising from his seat. “Imagine how you’d feel as a young man having your virginity taken by a man when it’s supposed to be taken by a woman.”
In contrast, Jack Strain watched silently without expression, occasionally taking notes. His son sat behind him, as he has every day of the trial.
The defense also questioned Finn about letters he sent to a federal agent where he asked her about a potential civil suit and if she could help him get into a re-entry program. Gibbens suggested that Finn was making up these stories about Strain for money and reduced jail time.
Assistant District Attorney addressed the letters during his redirect, noting that Finn asked for help, but never said he wouldn’t cooperate with investigators. He also mentioned that Finn is currently facing a life sentence, making any money he’d receive in a civil suit useless if he’s found guilty.
That case is being pursued by another state’s DA’s officer to avoid any conflicts, Sims said.
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