Hosanna Church Cult and "Brainwashing"

The latest spin? All of the alleged perpetrators have been "brainwashed." From the Courttv.com article:

...Lawyers for the nine codefendants, ages 24 to 55, say that, not only are their clients innocent but they are the victims of a brainwashing scheme.

"There is absolutely no evidence, medical or otherwise, to suggest that there is any truth to these allegations," said A. Wayne Smith, lawyer for codefendant Allen Pierson, who pleaded not guilty in June to four counts of aggravated rape of a child under 13.

And...

"It appears that one of the leaders of the church exercised a tremendous influence over its congregants to the point of making them say they did things that they never did," Smith said.

In a twist, he was not referring to Lamonica, who inherited the once large parish after his father's death, but to another parishioner, Lois Mowbray, who was charged with obstruction of justice and failing to report a crime after the fact.

In particular, Smith cited Mowbray's 586-page journal in which she allegedly had other parishioners write out their confessions to the sex acts.

The journal's contents were not detailed in a June grand jury proceeding [Why not?], but a detective described Mowbray as the church's pastor and suggested there had been infighting among the congregation, whose membership had eroded to about 15 members before its doors were permanently shut in 2003.

And...

References to an occult element were dropped from the case, as were the bestiality charges, prompting lawyers for the accused child rapists to decry a lack of evidence.