First Witness in Hosanna Case to Take the Stand

By DEBRA LEMOINE
Florida parishes bureau
Published: Nov 28, 2007 - UPDATED: 1:25 p.m.

AMITE — Nicole Bernard testified this morning that she discovered her young daughter had been raped by her then-estranged husband when the girl told her about her nightmares.

Bernard, 38, of Ohio, related the scene as the state’s first witness in its aggravated rape case against Austin “Trey” Bernard III, 39, of Hammond, the first of the Hosanna Church sex abuse suspects to go to trial.

He is accused of having oral sex with his then 2-year-old daughter and anal sex with a 12-year-old boy, Assistant District Attorney Don Wall told the jury in his opening statement.

Trey Bernard is one of seven members of the now defunct Ponchatoula church indicted in 2005 for abusing children.

Wall, in his opening statement, told the jury how Bernard’s now ex-wife discovered he was abusing their daughter and two other boys not related to the couple.

Wall said Trey Bernard confessed to raping these children to Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s detectives and FBI agents.

Bernard was indicted with crimes against only his daughter and the 12-year-old boy, not the other boy, who was 16 at the time.

Public Defender Al Bensabat told the jury in his opening statement that the children were coached by Bernard’s ex-wife to ensure she had total custody of their daughter. In fact, Trey Bernard was served with his divorce papers the same day he was arrested by the Sheriff’s Office in May 2005, Bensabat said.

He also told the jury his client is the victim of a witch hunt by authorities who think they have to take him to trial because of the publicity surrounding the case.

Bensabat also told the jury that Trey Bernard will take the stand later in the trial to testify in his own defense.

After an hour and a half of testimony for the prosecution, the court broke for lunch.

The defense is expected to cross-examine Nicole Bernard when court reconvenes after 1:30 p.m.

Jury Selection in Hosanna Church Trial

Jury selection starts for church member accused of child rape

AMITE, La. -- Tales of devil worship will not play a major role in the trial of a man accused of having sex with children as part of occult rituals alleged to have occurred among members of a now-defunct south Louisiana church, a prosecutor said.

Jury selection began Tuesday morning in the case of Austin "Trey" Bernard III, 39, of Hammond, who faces three counts of aggravated rape involving children, including a 2-year-old girl.

Bernard is the first of seven members of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula who are charged in the case. He is the first to go on trial since the allegations broke in 2005. The others are free on bail, awaiting trial.

The crimes allegeldy occurred in 2001 and 2002 and there were reports that satanic rituals and the killing of dogs and cats were involved. But Don Wall, an assistant district attorney in Tangipahoa Parish, told potential jurors that there would be little mention of that at trial because devil worship is not against the law.

"It is against the law to have sex with a child under 12," he said.

Wall also noted that there would be little or no physical evidence because so much time passed between the alleged crimes and the reporting of them.

"This is not CSI. There is no DNA, not a lot of physical evidence. Sometimes it is just people telling you what happened," Wall said.

Three jurors had been seated as of early afternoon from among close to 80 potential jurors who showed up at the courthouse Tuesday for the trial.

Bernard faced three counts of aggravated rape, including two counts involving a 2-year-old girl and one involving a juvenile boy. Conviction would mean life in prison for Bernard. Prosecutors decided against seeking the death penalty.

State District Judge Doug Hughes told potential jurors he expects the trial to last four or five days. However, public defender Al Bensabat, who represents Bernard, said it will be difficult to get a jury in Tangipahoa Parish, where the case has drawn extensive publicity. "It's been tried in the press for two years," Bensabat said.

Last week, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge rejected defense appeals concerning the testimony of possible state witnesses.

Hughes ruled on Oct. 9 that two young men, now ages 21 and 17, can take the witness stand, even though the prosecution and defense attorneys told the judge that they anticipate they will testify that they were not abused when they were minors. If so, their testimony would conflict with previous statements the men gave to psychiatrists and law enforcement authorities, attorneys have said in court hearings.

The men also are considered witnesses to the abuse of the girl, Wall has said. The girl is not expected to testify.