August 31, 2005

FARGO DIOCESE: Attorney in diocese lawsuit seeks to introduce priest allegations

FARGO (ND)
Grand Forks Herald

Associated Press

FARGO - The attorney for a woman accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese here of discrimination is seeking to introduce the issue of priest misconduct during the trial in her case.

Robert Schultz, the lawyer for Melissa Enebo, a former secretary for the diocese, said he wants to include evidence of misconduct by priests to show the diocese treated them differently from Enebo.

In her gender discrimination lawsuit, Enebo says she was fired in 1999 for getting pregnant outside of marriage.

Benjamin Thomas, the diocese attorney, told East Central District Judge John Irby at a pretrial hearing Monday that allowing allegations of priest misconduct as evidence would confuse jurors and "invite a media circus."

Posted by kshaw at August 31, 2005 06:09 AM