By Associated Press, HARTFORD, Conn. — The child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University has prompted state lawmakers across the nation to take another look at laws designed to protect children and punish child predators. Thirty-eight legislatures are back in session this month, most for the first time since retired assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged in November with child sex abuse and two school officials were charged with failing to properly report abuse allegations. At least 12 states are considering mandatory reporting legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and more are expected to craft bills as their sessions get into full swing. In addition to measures to improve the reporting of suspected child sex abuse, bills have been drafted across the country that would increase or even eliminate the statutes of limitations for bringing criminal or civil cases against alleged abusers. Read more...By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press An indicted Catholic church official is showing signs he won't take the fall alone for the priest abuse scandal in Philadelphia, with his lawyer saying Wednesday that a successor threw him "under the bus." Monsignor William Lynn, 61, is the only official from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia facing trial for allegedly failing to remove accused predators from the priesthood. He served as secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004. Defense lawyers argue that Lynn took orders from then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and other superiors in the church hierarchy. Prosecutors hope to include dozens of old abuse allegations to show a pattern of conduct at the trial, which is scheduled to start in late March and last several months. Read more...By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER A letter written by a Philadelphia priest four decades ago about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing could help prove that church officials endangered children 30 years later, a prosecutor contended Wednesday. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia learned about the letter in 1968, but allowed the former Rev. John Mulholland to work and minister at parishes across the region until 2002, Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen said. "It shows that they put blinders on," Sorensen told Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina. Read more...By John P. Martin, Inquirer Staff Writer A letter written by a Philadelphia priest four decades ago about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing could help prove that church officials endangered children 30 years later, a prosecutor contended Wednesday. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia learned about the letter in 1968, but allowed the Rev. John Mulholland to work and minister at parishes across the region until 2002, Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen said. "It shows that they put blinders on," Sorensen told Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina. Read more......by priest about teenage brothers on sadomasochistic outing By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Rev John Mulholland is said to have been allowed to serve in parishes despite church officials knowing of letters about S&M A letter detailing incidents of sexual abuse and sadomasochism at the hands of priests, written 30 years ago, could help prove that church officials turned a blind eye to molestation. Prosecutors are asking that the letter - which the The Archdiocese of Philadelphia allegedly learned about in 1968 - be used in the trial of William J. Lynn, the archdiocese's former secretary for clergy. The letter was said to contain details about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing in which a boy, 15, was strung up and flogged in the woods by his brothers, aged 17 and 18. Read more...Giving victims more time to report abuse Celina Westervelt ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - The state lawmaker behind SB 118 points to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, saying her bill would give victims here twice the amount of time here to sue. Senator Lisa Curtis is the bill's sponsor. It hit the senate floor Friday and Curtis hopes it will pass quickly allowing hundreds of New Mexicans to seek peace and justice. "It's just not fair, and just like the Sandusky victims, these people need to have a way to make the abuser accountable," Curtis explained. "It's so important to their healing." The democratic senator is also a lawyer who defends victims of sexual abuse. She's currently representing a client who says he was abused by Joseph Martinez. In 2009 Martinez was arrested, accused of making porn and having sex with underage boys. Read more...By Myles Snyder LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) - A former Lancaster teacher accused of having sexual encounters with two teen boys is facing new charges she took sexually explicit photographs of one of the victims, according to police. Christy L. Smith, 33, was arraigned on eight counts of sexual abuse of children after a search of her cell phone and laptop computer, police said. Police said Smith photographed the 17-year-old boy during their numerous sexual encounters at her College Avenue apartment between December 2009 and April 2010. She was previously charged with corruption of minors in Oct. 2010. Authorities have said the victim was not a student at McCaskey High School where Smith taught English, but she also faces charges she had sex with a teen who was a student. That boy told investigators that he and Smith had sexual encounters in her apartment at least three times between November 2008 and January 2009, when he was 15 to 16 years old. In that case, Smith faces 12 felony counts including of statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. She has been jailed in the Lancaster County Prison since October 8, 2010.
By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER One by one, the assistant district attorneys walked to a courtroom lectern Monday to describe, at times explicitly, different versions of what sounded like the same story: how priests molested children and Archdiocese of Philadelphia leaders failed to act on claims or signs of abuse. One cited testimony from altar boys who said that the former Rev. Edward Avery would allegedly get them drunk in the 1970s then propose to "sober them up" by rubbing ice on their genitals. Another detailed more than a dozen abuse claims against Nicholas Cudemo, who was shuffled among parishes and high schools over decades before he was defrocked. A third recounted how church leaders left the Rev. Michael Murtha in ministry for years after allegedly finding a cache of child pornography and a sexually graphic "fantasy letter" he penned to a boy in his Northeast Philadelphia parish. None of the allegations were new; prosecutors acknowledged that some were decades old and unproven. Read more...By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors on Monday accused the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of being an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a clergy sex abuse case and said the Roman Catholic Church fed predators a steady supply of children. The comments came in a key hearing before the March trial of a high-ranking church official, a priest and a former priest. Monsignor William Lynn, 61, is charged with conspiring with priests and church officials to keep priests accused of sex abuse in ministry and parishioners in the dark. Common Pleas District Judge M. Teresa Sarmina must decide how much the jury will hear about the archdiocese's overall handling of sex abuse complaints. Lynn's lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, called it "nutty" and "dan Read more...MARYCLAIRE DALE, The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA - Monday could prove a key day in court for a Philadelphia monsignor charged with endangering children by transferring predator priests Monsignor William Lynn will ask a judge to limit testimony at the March trial to evidence about his three co-defendants , two priests and a former teacher charged with raping the same boy. Prosecutors want to include accusations made against many other priests to show Lynn routinely kept child molesters on the job. The 61-year-old Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged criminally for his administrative actions. He faces more than a decade in prison if convicted. Defense lawyers say Lynn took orders from retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. The trial could last four months or more. It's not clear if Common Pleas Judge Teresa Sarmina will rule Monday.
More Articles...
|
||||||||
|
| ||
