After a two-week trial and five hours of deliberations, last night a Northshore jury found former St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain guilty on all counts.
That included four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated incest, one count of indecent behavior with a juvenile and one count of sexual battery.
Strain’s defense tried to claim it was a conspiracy and that the charges brought against him were from his political enemies, but DA Warren Montgomery said that it would have taken a mastermind to get multiple agencies of law enforcement to coordinate a false case against Strain.
Montgomery also said that the prosecution was contacted by more individuals claiming to have been victims of Strain but that ultimately the prosecution felt they had enough evidence to move forward in the case without having to bring more alleged victims to the stand.
Strain was fingerprinted, processed, and then taken away to jail around 8 pm last night after the verdict was read. It appears that the former sheriff will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
