PENNSYLVANIA
The Citizens Voice
By Michael McNarney, Staff Writer 04/07/2005
The Rev. Albert M. Liberatore Jr., accused of sexually molesting a teenage parishioner at his Duryea church, is asking a Luzerne County judge to throw out the charges against him.
The challenge claims that there's not enough evidence to even warrant a trial on charges of indecent assault, corrupting a minor, endangering the welfare of children, and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
The move comes more than five months after the Rev. Liberatore's lawyers, Larry Moran of Scranton and Joseph M. Cosgrove of Forty Fort, agreed with Luzerne County prosecutors to put the case in front of a common pleas judge instead of a magistrate.
Moran said Wednesday that there are significant legal and constitutional issues in the Liberatore case, issues that are best settled by a judge. Attempts to reach Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas were unsuccessful.
The case is being handled in Wilkes-Barre because county prosecutors there and in Scranton agreed to consolidate the crimes in a single case. The crimes are alleged to have taken place in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.