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	Hosanna Defense’s Expert Can View 1 Tape By Debra Lemoine Advocate August 5, 2008 http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/26269069.html AMITE — A defense expert can view the videotaped interview of the older alleged victim but not the tape of the younger alleged victim in the defense’s preparation for the upcoming rape trial of former pastor Louis D. Lamonica. State District Court Judge Zoey Waguespack issued her ruling Monday in a pre-trial hearing held in 21st Judicial District Court in Amite. Lamonica, 49, of Holden, is one of seven members of the now defunct Hosanna Church of Ponchatoula indicted in 2005 for child sex abuse. Lamonica’s trial for aggravated rape of his sons, ages 11 or younger at the time of the abuse, is set for Aug. 19. The hearing held Monday was ordered by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge after the appellate court reviewed a decision by the District Court last month to allow an expert to view tapes of both victims. Assistant District Attorney Le’Anne Malnar asked the 1st Circuit to review the July decision, arguing that state law prohibits anyone other than a defendant and his or her attorney viewing videotaped interviews of protected victims, which are typically sex-abuse victims under age 17, the writ says. The 1st Circuit ordered Waguespack to hold a hearing to determine whether the victims are part of this protected class under the law. If so, the appellate court ordered the judge was not to allow the defense expert to view the tapes. Jennifer Thomas, a licensed therapist in private practice in Hammond, testified that she was a forensic interviewer for the Child Advocacy Services in Livingston in 2005 when the two victims, both Lamonica’s sons, were brought to the center for an interview. Typically, investigators use the services of the center to conduct a single interview of a potential child victim of sexual abuse rather than have the child potentially traumatized by multiple interviews, she testified. At the time of the interviews, one alleged victim was 15 years old and the other was 18 years old, she testified. Therefore, Waguespack ruled that the younger teen’s tape fell under the “protected” category and the older teen’s tape did not and could be viewed by others. When Michael Thiel, Lamonica’s defense attorney, asked if Waguespack’s ruling meant that the older teen’s tape could not be played during his client’s trial, the judge said it did not. However, Assistant District Attorney Don Wall told the court that he would not seek to play the older boy’s taped interview to the jury unless the victim makes conflicting statements on the witness stand. This older victim testified he was never sexually abused by Lamonica and other church members at the trial of another Hosanna member, Austin “Trey” Bernard III, held last year. However, the older victim said he was abused on the videotape that was played in court.
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