Dead Girl Protected from Dad

January 1, 2009 permalink

Nebraska accused Paul Castonguay of touching his daughter Amanda, then took the girl into their custody where she died. Dad is not allowed to attend his daughter's funeral because of the accusation.

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KETV.com

Accused Dad Can't Attend Daughter's Funeral

Judge Denies Paul Castonguay's Request For Temporary Release

POSTED: 6:16 pm CST December 31, 2008, UPDATED: 8:43 am CST January 1, 2009

OMAHA, Neb. -- The father of a 16-year-old girl killed in an icy car crash last week will not be able to attend his daughter's funeral.

Paul Castonguay

A Douglas County judge has denied Paul Castonguay's request for a temporary release from jail so he could go to the funeral.

Castonguay being held on charges that he sexually assaulted his daughter, Amanda Castonguay. She had been in foster care for three months when she died in the Dec. 23 crash.

Paul Castonguay said he should be released from jail because the charges are a misunderstanding and because his accuser, his daughter, is dead.

"I told them the only thing I will admit I did wrong is allow my daughter to sit on my lap," said Paul Castonguay. "We were fully dressed. My whole family was together and, as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with that."

Amanda Castonguay told sheriff's deputies on Sept. 23 that her father molested her and was moved to a foster family that day.

In an interview on Christmas Eve, Paul Castonguay said he thought that the charges against him would be dropped.

"They don't have any evidence besides my daughter's testimony, nothing whatsoever," he said.

Prosecutors said that they have enough evidence to convict Paul Castonguay without his daughter's testimony. Deputy county attorney Leigh Ann Retelsdorf said there were other witnesses and phone records that showed Castonguay told his wife what to say to police investigators.

Defense attorney Jeremy Jorgenson told the judge that the phone records are being misconstrued and that the defense will continue to press for the charges to be dropped.

"We will vigorously defend the charges," said Jorgenson. "He's proclaimed his innocence from the beginning."

Judge Thomas Otepka said the phone records were one reason he declined to release Castonguay.

"There may be a difference in opinion of what the meaning was, but there's no question of what was said," Otepka said. The judge amended Castonguay's bond, ordering no direct contact between Castonguay and his wife.

Castonguay said the state is trying to paint a disturbing picture of who he is.

"I've never been a pedophile and never touched a kid in my life," he said. "But that's what the state of Nebraska is trying to get me on. (It's) trying to get me as a pedophile because I touched my daughter and I never touched my daughter."

Jorgenson said the next step will be to make a motion to suppress comments that Castonguay made during his initial interrogation and the phone records of the conversations between him and his wife.

Source: KETV Omaha