February 18, 2005

Ex-priest guilty of molestation

BALTIMORE (MD)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Foster Klug
Associated Press

BALTIMORE - A defrocked priest was convicted yesterday of molesting an altar boy who a decade later shot and wounded him on the street in a fit of rage when the clergyman refused to apologize.

Maurice Blackwell, 58, former Roman Catholic pastor of a Baltimore church, was found guilty on three of four counts of sexually abusing Dontee Stokes, now 29, during the early 1990s. He could get up to 45 years in prison when sentenced in April.

Stokes said he felt vindicated by the verdict: "The world can see that I'm not a perfect person, but I stand here right and he stands wrong."

Blackwell, who uses a cane to walk because of his gunshot wounds, had no comment as he left the courtroom.

Stokes testified that the priest molested him from age 13 to 17. Prosecutors declined to charge Blackwell when Stokes raised the accusations a decade ago.

Posted by kshaw at February 18, 2005 04:06 AM