CALIFORNIA
CBS 5
02/18/05 1:40 PST
REDWOOD CITY
The February trial date set for a former Daly City priest accused of sexually abusing a young girl a decade ago has been vacated and rescheduled for May.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall granted a defense request to delay the trial for Jose Superiaso, 50, a former priest at St. Andrew's Catholic Church who acknowledged having sex between 30 and 40 times with a young girl he babysat in the mid-1990s.
The May trial will be the second prosecution of Superiaso, who will be retried on 18 felony counts.
On Sept. 17, a San Mateo County jury acquitted Superiaso on three of the original 21 charges against him and deadlocked on the remaining 18 counts, forcing Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles to declare a mistrial.
The girl, now 22, first reported the alleged crimes in May 2003. Superiaso was arrested on June 10 of that year, after the alleged victim lured him back to the county from New Mexico.
Because Superiaso was accused of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14, the girl's age at the time was crucial to the prosecution.
Posted by kshaw at February 18, 2005 06:14 PM