A judge in Los Angeles outlined on Wednesday what the trial of Naasón Joaquín García, the spiritual leader of the La Luz del Mundo church, who faces charges of human trafficking, rape and possession of child pornography, will be like. The process will begin on June 6 with the selection of the jury.
Naasón Joaquín, who this Friday will serve three years in prison in this city, has pleaded not guilty and has over him the highest bail ever imposed in California, of $90 million. Her alleged accomplice, Susana Medina Oaxaca, a young woman from San Diego, will also be tried.
The trial is expected to last between five and six weeks. Judge Ronald S. Coen approved that a press chamber transmit all audiences, but it will not film the faces of the whistleblowers. Therefore, those who do not go to court will only listen to their voices. It is not clear which of the five anonymous whistleblowers will go to court. Three of them are American and two Mexican.
A video in which Joaquín García and Medina Oaxaca appear having sex, as described by the California Prosecutor's Office in court, will be shown to explain how they sexually abused one of the complainants, who was a minor when the events had occurred, in the pastor's room in his residence in East Los Angeles.
The defense of the self-appointed 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' had asked in a motion that these images not be shown to the members of the jury, twelve American citizens who will analyze the evidence and the statements, considering them "irrelevant" and just an example of a consensual relationship between adults. The recording was on the iPad of the leader of The Light of the World, who the police confiscated when he arrived on a private plane at Los Angeles airport on the afternoon of June 3, 2019.
"He threatened to kill her husband"
At the request of the prosecutors, the magistrate approved that Alondra Ocampo, the woman who stated in her guilty plea that she recruited three teenagers from the East Los Angeles temple to become Joaquín García's maidens. She is awaiting her conviction at the end of the year and may ask for reduced punishment for testifying and cooperating with the authorities.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Segal said that Ocampo's story is fundamental to show that there was a conspiracy to sexually abuse minor worshippers and that Naasón Joaquín was in charge of it. She anticipated that she will tell in court how she was recruited at the time of Samuel Joaquín Flores, who led the church for 50 years and until her death in 2014. When his son Naason Joaquin took the reins of the congregation, he called her to be a recruiter of girls, Segal said.
Ocampo accepted even though she was 32 years old, married and had moved away from the church. It was because Naason Joaquín "threatened her that he would have her husband killed if he did not do it" and told her that her father had died of cancer because she betrayed him, according to Segal.
He also promised her that her reward was the salvation of her soul and to regain a privileged position in the congregation. Ocampo thought it would be a "blessing" and a way to ensure that she would meet in heaven with her dead sister, the state prosecutor said.
"She experienced rape and all those things that the 'Apostle' did to her," said Segal, who said that in Ocampo's mind "she served the 'Apostle of Jesus Christ.'"
"Mr. García threatened to kill her husband," the official insisted.
Caleb Mason, one of Naasón Joaquín's lawyers, criticized that the Prosecutor's Office is trying to get Ocampo to tell the jury that she was "slave, raped and tortured" by Samuel Joaquín, who cannot defend himself because he is dead. In his opinion, it is "unnecessary" to know his story with his client's father, and then link it to the developing trial. He denied that she was "almost a zombie" who obeyed out of fear.
"The jury doesn't have to believe that story," Mason said.
Purification of witnesses
There is a list of 13 witnesses proposed by the defense to speak in favor of Naason Joaquín and La Luz del Mundo, including two faithful and an expert in religion, it was said in court.
"We have witnesses who will say: no, that's how this church does not work," Mason said, adding that those statements will confirm that "he (Naason Joaquin) is not a monster, his father was not a monster, this is not a monstrous church."
One of those potential witnesses is Andrea Sánchez and said she was willing to describe the charity programs of the church, but acknowledged that she does not know the charges or the defendants, Segal said.
The prosecutor said that he spoke with another proposed parishioner and he mentioned that he believed that the charges against the 'Apostle' are false, that the media have lied about it and that former Attorney General Xavier Becerra unjustly accused his religious leader.
For this reason, Segal mentioned that these statements were "completely irrelevant in this case."
Judge Coen refused to exclude all 13 witnesses, but asked the defense to make a purge to choose those who can refute the government's arguments.
The judge also approved the testimony of two psychiatrists, one by the defense and the other by the Prosecutor's Office. The first one has already issued his opinions after reading some text messages from four complainants. The other, who will be run by the prosecutors, will talk in court about how sexual predators act.
A motion was also filed asking to show the video of at least one defense witness who is in Mexico, who would speak in favor of the 'Apostle of Jesus Christ'. But the judge rejected it, pointing out that this is not the right way, since there is an agreement between the United States and Mexico that allows a person to be brought to testify in a trial in this country.
Written communications of Jane Does' calls (a fictitious name to protect the identity of witnesses) were also under analysis at Wednesday's hearing. Naasón Joaquín's lawyers requested that those who talk about sexual relations, their beliefs about the church and the alleged use of marijuana and robberies from a clothing store be shown to the jury.
In a past hearing they had asked for charges to be dropped from their client arguing that they exonerate him and prove that they set him "a trap for money." However, his motion was rejected after determining that, in fact, these texts are incriminating.
Some of the messages will be shown at the trial, especially those in which they allegedly wrote that they did not have sex with the church leader, the magistrate said.
Finally, the prosecutors agreed to withdraw the alleged evidence that co-defendant Susana Medina Oaxaca "moved money" from the church, as well as travel records of her.
The hearing to select the jury will begin at 9:00 am next Monday. A court spokesman told this media that this process could take between four and five days. Subsequently, the initial arguments of the prosecutors and the defense will be presented, to continue with the presentation of the witnesses of both parties.