COVINGTON, La. — A judge will allow three additional alleged victims of former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain to testify in his upcoming trial.
The judge did say that it would need to be clear to the jurors that Strain has not been charged with crimes in the cases of the three victims.
Strain was arrested in June on two counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated incest, one count of indecent behavior with a juvenile and a count of sexual battery, after being indicted by a grand jury.
He has maintained his innocence.
According to the indictment, there are allegedly four victims of the sex crimes and the times of the crimes spanned from 1975 to 2004, including when Strain was sheriff. There were no specifics on the allegations made by the three new alleged victims.
Strain's attorney asked prosecutors to provide specifics about the alleged victims and where the alleged abuse occurred.
The judge also said that he wants to keep the trial in St. Tammany Parish and in January they will attempt to get a jury from the parish. If that isn't possible, they will pull jurors from another locale.
Prosecutors said they don't think the trial would last more than two weeks and it seems likely that the jury would be sequestered.
The tentative trial date is April 20.