COVINGTON (WGNO)– An interesting turn of events today in the sex abuse trial of former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain. Strain decided to not testify and the defense rested—bringing no witnesses to the stand.
For weeks now many were wondering if in fact Strain himself would testify and today he had the chance, but declined.
So without anymore witnesses from the state and the defense, and with the state presenting all their evidence, just before noon today Judge Bruce Simpson made the decision to release the jurors for the day and told them that closing arguments from both sides will begin Monday morning and could take hours to get through. After closing arguments the jurors will be informed of all the eight charges against Strain, and then they can begin deliberation to decide if Strain is guilty or not guilty on all the charges.
The judge told jurors to bring clothes for two or three days just in case to be prepared to spend the night. Food, hotels, transportation to hotels will be provided for the jury. Now in regards to Strain not taking the stand to testify here’s what lawyer Cliff Cardone has to say, “One reason is the defense might think that the state has not proven each and every element of this case and they are going to rely on closing arguments to point that out to the jury. Additionally it may be that the defense doesn’t feel that Sheriff Strain could withstand cross-examination.”
The judge told jurors he decided not to hear closing arguments and begin deliberation today because he wanted to be fair to them and have them fresh for Monday morning.