WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By MARIE ROHDE
mrohde@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 17, 2005
A former Episcopal priest who has already served a four-year sentence and parole term for sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy may be retried on the same charges after a federal appeals court essentially overturned the original conviction, according to Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision found that the priest, Russell Martin, had inadequate legal representation at trial.
"The effect is that he's no longer considered a convicted sex offender," Bucher said. "Of course we want to retry him, but it's a question of whether we can try him. The question is whether the evidence is still available. In this case, it's the victim."
The conviction was part of a notorious case involving Nashotah House, an Episcopal seminary in Delafield, that got national attention.
Russell Martin was one of five men charged in 1994 after a Texas man accused them of abusing him at Nashotah House in the late 1980s when he was 13. Two of the five pleaded no contest to the assault charges. Two other seminarians were acquitted by juries.