SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
CBS 5
03/18/05 11:20 PST
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A San Francisco Superior Court jury found today that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco is liable for a priest's molestation of a boy in a San Jose parish more than 30 years ago.
The civil jury concluded by a 10-2 vote that the archdiocese should have known by the end of 1973 that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard had engaged in illegal sexual conduct.
The jury will reconvene Monday morning in the court of Judge John Munter to determine the amount of financial compensation to be awarded to the plaintiff, Dennis Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh, 47, of San Jose, alleged that Pritchard molested him between 20 and 30 times in the St. Martin of Tours Parish in San Jose between 1971 and 1973. The parish was part of the San Francisco archdiocese at the time.
Kavanaugh's lawsuit is the first of about 160 pending lawsuits filed against Northern California dioceses to go to trial. The suits have a total of 200 plaintiffs who allege Roman Catholic priests molested them in the past.
Posted by kshaw at March 18, 2005 02:04 PM