The Slidell pastor convicted of child cruelty for taping students’ mouths shut will now be sentenced in December.
John Raymond’s hearing was previously scheduled for Wednesday then pushed back after a series of motions filed by Raymond’s attorney.
Raymond spoke to media outside the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center Wednesday, saying his team wants to show there was no cause for arrest, much less a trial, over his actions concerning the discipline of children at the school.
Raymond was arrested in 2022 while serving as Headmaster of Lakeside Christian Academy, a school he founded. He was charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after witnesses reported he taped students’ mouths shut as a form of discipline.
Raymond was later arrested again, after being accused of holding a four-year-old boy upside-down and holding his hand over the boy’s mouth until he went limp.
In September of 2024, a St Tammany jury found him guilty of all four charges.
The sentencing hearing is now set for December 2 at 1 p.m. Raymond could face as many as 70 years in prison.
