KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Cindy Schroeder
Enquirer staff writer
Earl Bierman, the central figure in one of the region's most notorious priest sex abuse cases, died Monday.
Bierman died of cancer at 1:40 p.m. in the prison hospital at the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange, prison spokesman Gary Prestijiacomo said. Bierman, who had malignant melanoma, had been in declining health for several months.
In just 24 days, the 73-year-old former priest had hoped to learn whether the Kentucky Parole Board would grant him a final act of mercy: his freedom.
Because Bierman had less than a year to live, officials at the state Department of Corrections had asked the parole board to consider whether the former priest should be released early from his 20-year sentence. His hearing was set for July 7.
"Part of me feels sorry for the guy," said one of Bierman's victims, who declined to be identified to avoid embarrassing his family. "Why would somebody do this to people? There must have been something that happened in his life because the guy wasn't normal."