CALIFORNIA
Union-Tribune
By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:44 p.m. March 15, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO – At least two priests at a San Jose parish saw young boys visiting the room of another priest now accused of molestation, and one caught the priest with boys sitting on his lap, a lawyer told jurors Tuesday at the start of a civil sexual abuse trial.
Attorney Larry Drivon, who represents victim Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, said the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was seen numerous times with young boys in his room during the early 1970s. But those activities were never reported, he said during the first day of testimony in Kavanaugh's lawsuit against the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Jurors saw parts of a videotaped deposition by the Rev. William Leininger, a now-retired priest who lived at St. Martin of Tours when the abuse occurred. Leininger acknowledged he saw "lots of boys" go into Pritchard's room but thought they were watching television or playing games.
"It was unusual activity, but we didn't think anything of it," Leininger said on the tape. "That's just the way things were."
Kavanaugh's is the first of more than 750 civil lawsuits against California dioceses to go to trial since the state temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims in 2002.
Posted by kshaw at March 15, 2005 08:21 PM