"Priest, ex-teacher face sex trial in Philadelphia" Associated Press, January 14, 2013
PHILADELPHIA — A troubled police officer’s son who accuses two Roman Catholic priests and a teacher of raping him during boyhood is set to testify at a Philadelphia trial this week — and have his startling claims challenged in court for the first time.
Are they?
Are they?
The young man, identified by the pseudonym Billy in a 2011 grand jury report, testified in a landmark priest-abuse case last year. Lawyers for the church official on trial never cross-examined him, but now the strategy has changed.
Monsignor William Lynn’s lawyers doubted Billy’s story, but they feared their questions would open the door for jurors to learn that one accused priest had taken a plea deal.
Lynn later became the first US church official convicted over his handling of abuse complaints. He is serving three to six years in prison for endangering Billy’s safety by moving the Rev. Edward Avery, a suspected pedophile, to St. Jerome’s Parish.
‘‘I thought I did something wrong — and it’s a priest,’’ Billy testified about his 1999 encounter with Avery. ‘‘I didn’t think anyone would believe me.’’
The other two rape suspects go on trial Monday, and Billy’s credibility — under potentially fierce cross-examination — may determine the outcome. In the adult Billy, the jury will see an accuser who has spent much of his life battling drugs and alcohol.
"Priest abuse accuser faces tough questions; Memory varies on locations of rapes by priests, teacher" by Maryclaire Dale | Associated Press, January 17, 2013
PHILADELPHIA — A longtime heroin addict whose complaint helped imprison a Philadelphia archdiocesan official came under attack Wednesday, as jurors in a priest abuse trial learned that he had given three different locations for one alleged rape.
Defense lawyers questioning the gaunt, 24-year-old policeman’s son poked several holes in his accounts, some of which he attributed to years of heavy drug use....
The accuser explained that he was high when he spoke to the church investigator in a car outside his parents’ house, and doesn’t remember much of the conversation. His drug habit at times reached 15 to 20 bags of heroin a day, the young man acknowledged....
And he's still alive?
And he's still alive?
The man’s complaint led to last year’s child endangerment conviction of the Rev. William Lynn, who oversaw priest assignments at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004....
Former priest Edward Avery, serving 2½ to 5 years, is expected to testify for the prosecution on Thursday. He would be the first admitted pedophile priest to testify in open court during the 11-year investigation of church abuse within the Philadelphia archdiocese.
The accuser also has sued the archdiocese. Observers watching the trial this week include his civil lawyer, a juror from the Lynn trial, and the father of a young man who committed suicide after filing a priest abuse lawsuit against the church.
The accuser’s father, now a police sergeant, also testified. He poignantly described the trauma the family experienced as his once-joyful, extroverted son descended into heavy drug use and suicidal behavior — and refused to tell them what was wrong.
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"Ex-priest recants abuse guilty plea" by MARYCLAIRE DALE | Associated Press, January 18, 2013
PHILADELPHIA — An imprisoned former priest at the center of a landmark Roman Catholic abuse case testified Thursday that he pleaded guilty to a sexual assault he did not commit.
Edward Avery, 70, admitted to an earlier abuse complaint, but he said he never had any contact with the accuser in another ongoing criminal trial. He said he took a plea deal because he did not want to risk a longer sentence if convicted.
Asked if he raped the 24-year-old policeman’s son, Avery said: ‘‘I did not. So help me God.’’
He will have to.
He will have to.
The same man claims he was raped by Avery, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, and former teacher Bernard Shero, starting when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999.
Engelhardt and Shero are fighting the charges at trial, which is expected to last into next week. Avery’s testimony could bolster their defense if jurors believe him over the accuser, a longtime heroin addict who testified Wednesday.
But in questioning by prosecutors, Avery conceded that maintaining his guilt would hurt him in the accuser’s civil lawsuit and perhaps subject him to harassment in prison as an admitted child molester....
Some consider that justice.
Some consider that justice.
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"Priest, teacher convicted of abuse" by Maryclaire Dale | Associated Press, January 31, 2013
PHILADELPHIA — A jury convicted a priest and a teacher Wednesday in a church sex abuse case that rocked the Philadelphia archdiocese and sent a church official to prison for child endangerment.
The verdict supports accounts by a 24-year-old policeman’s son that he was sexually abused by the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and sixth-grade teacher Bernard Shero in about 1999.
The accuser’s complaint in 2009 describing abuse by two priests and the teacher led to Monsignor William Lynn’s landmark conviction last year for endangerment.
Lynn is serving three to six years in prison for his role transferring an admitted pedophile priest to the accuser’s parish in northeast Philadelphia.
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The young man said the abuse started after Engelhardt caught him drinking altar wine in fifth grade.
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