Last night, Church Militant reported on the latest development in disgraced former-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s criminal prosecution in Massachusetts. Tonight, Church Militant’s Kristine Christlieb goes into more detail about the case.
Protestor from Sept. 3 arraignment: “How many children, how many young lives, how many suicides, drug addictions, depressions? That’s what he gave us.”
Theodore McCarrick is the only U.S. cardinal ever to be prosecuted in criminal court for sex crimes with minors. At his arraignment in September, he pleaded “not guilty” to three counts of indecent assault and battery.
Norfolk County assistant district attorney Sarah Lelle:
These are cases, your honor, where the defendant immersed himself into the fabric of the victim’s family and then used his status as a priest to access and prey upon the victim. He specifically used the act of confession to get the victim away from his parents and his siblings and then sexually assault the victim during that timeframe.
The alleged assaults took place 44 years ago in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on the campus of Wellesley College, one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges for women.
At a motion hearing on Tuesday, McCarrick did not appear in person. Because travel would pose significant health risks, he was allowed to be present by telephone. McCarrick’s lawyers, Barry Coburn and Daniel Marx, were present.
Coburn is McCarrick’s lawyer from Washington, D.C., with expertise in prosecuting and defending sexual assault crimes. His website bio page touts his representation of “former cardinal Theodore McCarrick in numerous federal and New Jersey pending cases.”
The attorneys offered no objection to allowing the prosecution access to 2020 testimony about the Wellesley assault. Their objections are more likely to come if the prosecution wants to admit that testimony into evidence in court.
When Church Militant asked them about their strategy, they offered no comment.
The once-powerful prelate will be spending another Christmas in a long-term treatment facility for so-called troubled priests, in rural Missouri, outside St. Louis.
