The Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula was once a busy place but as former member Stephen Brown described his time there, he testified it became a place of secrets and sex abuse.

Brown, who once was a friend of Bernard, told jurors that Bernard and the Hosanna Pastor Louis Lamonica would often talk about raping younger church members.

Brown said he began to believe the pair after they stopped saying they were kidding and both started writing journals as to what they had done. Defense attorney Al Bensabat said of the journals, “It’s bizarre, you’ve got all these writings and I think if I was a sex criminal or whatever I don’t think I would be writing that down but you’ll see how all of this is going to fit together when we put our case on.”
 
Jurors have seen that journal allegedly written by Bernard. When asked if he read it, Brown said, “If I had read the whole thing I would have vomited everywhere. The stuff in that journal was so stomach churning.”
 
Earlier in the day, a doctor testified about how it’s possible to abuse children without leaving scars or marks but that there is no physical evidence in this case. “I would think if I was on the jury, I would want something, some DNA, some blood, something,” said Bensabat.
 
The prosecution will pick back up tomorrow morning at nine. They plan to put two young boys on the stand that Bernard allegedly molested. After that, the case will go to the defense which plans to put a number of people on the stand including the Tangipahoa Sheriff and Bernard.

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