January 15, 2005

Convictions hold against ex-priest

APPLETON (WI)
Post-Crescent

By Dan Wilson
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON — Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dennis Luebke Friday rejected arguments from convicted sex offender John Patrick Feeney that the statute of limitations should have applied to his case.

Luebke heard post-conviction motions in the case of the 78-year-old former pastor at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom, who is serving a 15-year sentence on three counts of attempted sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child.

Luebke denied motions from Gerald Boyle, Feeney’s attorney, claiming the statute of limitations should have applied to the 24-year-old case and that the judge’s sentence was unduly harsh.

The denial sets the stage for an appeal, which Boyle said he would file within 60 days.

Boyle argued the six-year statute of limitation should have applied to the case that arose out of incidents in 1978 when Feeney was at St. Nicholas.

Posted by kshaw at January 15, 2005 09:10 AM