BALTIMORE (MD)
The Dispatch
By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer
The defense for a former priest accused of child sex abuse relied on psychiatrists and church members to bolster claims that the alleged victim - who shot the cleric three years ago - sometimes appeared to have trouble sorting fact from fantasy.
The attorney for defrocked priest Maurice Blackwell, 58, claims Dontee Stokes, 29, made up the abuse allegations as a way of dealing with his own sexual identity crisis.
Throughout the trial, however, the prosecution has insisted Blackwell preyed on a vulnerable child who wanted to be a priest, and trusted Blackwell as a father figure. Stokes, though acknowledging he had trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality at times, insists the abuse was real.
Both sides have rested their cases; closing arguments were to begin Wednesday.