Louisiana Woman Found Guilty of Attempted Murder After Confession to Pastor Used Against Her in Court

A 44-year-old Louisiana woman was found guilty of attempted murder and home invasion after confessing to her pastor, who happened to be a major with the sheriff's office.

Authorities said Peggy Valentine broke into the home of her fiancé's other girlfriend, who recently gave birth to his baby, and stabbed the woman while she was sleeping, according to local news outlet WAFB. Valentine's defense said she had been invited inside and intended to work things out with the woman before the two "got in a tussle."

Following the attack, Valentine called her pastor, who works for the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office. He reportedly urged her to speak with authorities.

Heeding his advice, she volunteered to talk with investigators but then asked to speak to the pastor when she got upset, per the report.

“It was obvious they had interrogated Peggy for a moment. She was very, very distraught at the time. She stopped talking to him, shut down and demanded to speak to her pastor,” Valentine's lawyer, David Belfield III, told WAFB.

During that conversation, while another deputy was also in the room, Valentine admitted to the pastor that she had gone to the house to try to catch her fiancé and the woman together, according to WAFB.

Belfield argued the conversation between Valentine and her pastor should have been removed from evidence, citing pastor privilege.

“Are you working as a pastor or a deputy? He never once told her, ‘Peggy, you have to be careful in what you say because I’m working as a police officer. What you say will be used against you,’" Belfield said, per WAFB. “You wouldn’t sit in the room while she was talking to her lawyer, then why would you sit in the room talking to her pastor?”

Prosecutors argued the conversation didn't fall under pastor privilege because there was another deputy in the room, preventing confidentiality, one of three prongs of the pastor protection clause.

The judge ruled in favor of the prosecution, agreeing there was no expectation of privacy, and allowed the jury to listen to the confession multiple times, according to WAFB.

“On first-degree murder, you have to prove specific intent. She went over there to check if her man was there. There was no specific intent to murder,” Belfield argued in court. “If you can’t trust your pastor in this day and age, who can you trust?”

Belfield's arguments were unable to sway the jury, which handed down two guilty convictions for attempted murder and home invasion on Monday.

Valentine is being held in the local jail. She faces a pre-sentencing court date Dec. 30 and sentencing on Feb. 27.