By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
COVINGTON – For anyone who has followed the John Raymond case from starting in November 2022, until the most recent court action on February 20, 2025, the increasing bad blood between Raymond and District Attorney Collin Sims has been evident.
That’s why the showdown between the two, in the courtroom last week, was so anticipated. And after Raymond was grilled on the witness stand for more than two hours by Sims, ending with another victory by the D.A., it only confirmed the animosity between the two—whether either would publicly admit it or not.
Judge John Keller had to halt the proceedings numerous times for outbursts by either one, including many wise-cracks by Raymond to Sims in the course of his testimony.
It flew in the face of what Raymond’s attorney, Jane Hogan, had hoped to see from the Slidell pastor who is facing real jail time after being convicted on four counts of cruelty to juveniles.
Nonetheless, even as Raymond clearly could have helped his case by showing a dose of humility, and avoiding what was predicted as a “swordfight” between the two, it seemed clear he couldn’t help himself since he knew it would be his only chance to try and one-up the D.A.
And Sims made it easy for Raymond to lose his cool with his own language that provoked plenty of blowups, leading to an inordinate number of judge conferences when Keller tried to bring down the heat.
Whether Raymond had any ill will towards Sims or not before being arrested in 2022 for the cruelty charges, things began to brew from the time of the arrest and have only grown more intense since then, which finally exploded with the showdown in court last week.
When Raymond was officially charged, Sims was the interim D.A. for Warren Montgomery, who was battling cancer and would step down in early 2023, leading to an election in October of that year for the district attorney job.
Sims qualified to run, but Raymond decided to back Sims’ opposition, and used Social Media to attack Sims with a highly-critical five-page letter, asking the public to vote against him. The letter was seen by thousands, but Sims still won the election in a landslide.
During that campaign time, since Raymond was under indictment for the charges, Sims refused to show at the Republican Party Executive Committee (RPEC) candidate forum as long as Raymond retained the board seat he held.
When the trial was getting closer, Sims announced he would be the prosecutor in the Raymond case, something not seen very often as assistant D.A.’s are mainly used to handle the majority of trials that are not murders.
Even though former D.A. Montgomery had offered a plea deal for Raymond several times in the two years before the trial ever happened, Raymond steadfastly insisted he would not take any deal or accept guilt, even though it meant he would take a chance of going to jail if he was found guilty.
Raymond and Sims never clashed during the initial six-day trial as Raymond ended up not taking the stand, but it didn’t stop his new attorney from filing a motion stating Sims should never have prosecuted the case due to the bad blood between the two. Judge Keller denied that motion.
Even after Raymond was found guilty, a sentencing date was set before new attorney Hogan sought a continuance since she had a court conflict on that date. While it is common courtesy for a court to work with any attorney having a conflict on a date, Sims initially refused to grant it, although the continuance did later occur due to pending appeals that were not ruled on.
All of that conflict finally spilled into the courtroom last week when Raymond found himself sitting in the witness stand, and Sims ready to question him.
Sims was on the attack from the start, trying to embarrass Raymond right out of the gate about why he didn’t look into attorney Joe Long’s history before agreeing to hire him.
“You are accused of a felony, so why not look into his background?” Sims asked.
With Raymond contending he deserved a new trial due to “a wheelbarrow of evidence not introduced by his attorney,” Sims further pressed Raymond by questioning the lack of evidence.
“You are submitting evidence to show ineffective counsel, and this is all you have?” Sims said. “Where are the other things?”
Raymond later accused Sims, Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal and writer Terry King of “being in cahoots to not arrest” a former Raymond teacher who never reported one of the cruelty charges in what was later considered criminal. Teachers have a responsibility to do that if they see a crime, which the teacher never did until Raymond was charged. At one point, Raymond asked Sims, “why have you still not charged her?”
Along with making Sims repeat questions after Raymond would say “I forgot the question,” the Slidell pastor fired back at Sims for questioning him about not knowing more about his employees.
“Elon Musk is in charge of a gazillion employees, but he doesn’t know everyone,” Raymond said. “You think Elon doesn’t hire someone for his space program because they don’t know math?”
Sims especially went after Raymond for stating in teacher and parent contracts at his school that they would agree to Lakeside Christian Academy using a “Biblical world view” to discipline students.
Sims began to quote Scripture and then pointed to Proverbs 23:14 that acknowledges using a “rod” to beat a child to teach them obedience.
“So, do you think it gives you the right to beat kids with a rod?” Sims asked as his voice quickly increased with intensity, leading to another judge’s halt of the proceedings.
Raymond fired back by noting Sims had graduated from St. Paul’s High School in Covington.
“St. Paul’s uses that kind of discipline so should they be shut down? Your question is unfair,” Raymond said, constantly noting that his school operated in accordance with the Bible, before saying “I would never beat a kid with a rod.”
When Raymond said the husband of a former employee had headed a campaign to ruin him through witness testimonies that all painted him as an evil person who harmed children, Sims read off the names of all 25 witnesses who testified and said, “so you say Felix got all these people in the conspiracy?” to which Raymond responded, “that’s a ridiculous accusation. It’s laughable.”
Sims later told Raymond, “You think you are right” about everything, to which Raymond said, “that is a complete fabrication, but you’re good at that. You are muddling up what I’m saying.”
Considering the long contentious history between the two, followed by one trial scene when Raymond mumbled something under his breath about Sims, to which the D.A. shot back, “what did you say?” it was no surprise to see the next chapter play out in the hearing for a new trial.
Sentencing for Raymond is currently set for March 13. Hogan plans to mount an aggressive campaign with letters to the judge, urging for no jail time since Raymond has no criminal past. Sources to The Independent have said Sims will seek a minimum of six years. If Keller gives Raymond five years or less, he can stay out of jail on bond while he appeals the sentence, but more than a five-year sentence would have him heading to jail that day.