ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Jim Suhr
Associated Press
12/21/2004
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Affirming a lower court's stance that no time limit applies to prosecuting someone for sodomy, Missouri's highest court Tuesday refused to hear the case of a Roman Catholic priest accused of child sex abuse during the 1970s.
The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling, without comment, upheld a September ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals that reversed a St. Louis judge's determination that too much time had passed for the Rev. Thomas Graham to be charged with the clergy abuse.
In asking Missouri's high court to hear the case, Graham attorney Art Margulis labeled the matter "of profound significance," suggesting that a ruling unfavorable to his client might spur more prosecutions involving sexual abuse by clergy.
Margulis directed questions about Tuesday's ruling to his co-counsel Christian Goeke, who said "we expected this was an issue the (Supreme Court) would take up simply because of its widespread ramifications."
Posted by kshaw at December 21, 2004 05:27 PM