NEW YORK
News 10
11/3/2005 7:22 PM
By: Sarah Sevier, News 10 Now Web Staff
For the Hanson sisters, the statute of limitations is up, but a State Supreme court judge's ruling could reopen the door for their sex abuse suit against Father Thomas Keating.
He allegedly sexually abused them during his time at St. Mary's.
"If the judge did dismiss this case on a technicality because it happened so long ago, a lot of these diocese are saying oh that means the priest has been cleared we'll restore him to ministry. The church has just been using the statute of limitations to clear guilty priests," said John Aretakis, lawyer for the Hanson sisters.
The attorney representing three sisters suing a former Syracuse diocese priest for sex abuse, says a judge's decision to adjourn was a big victory Thursday. The state Supreme Court will wait on a decision in a similar case in a higher court before considering dismissing the Hanson sisters’ sex abuse suit. News 10 Now's Sarah Sevier explains.
Judge Edward Carni ruled to wait as a higher court, the Court of Appeals, considers throwing out the statute of limitations in a Utica priest sex abuse case, Zumpano versus Father Quinn and the Syracuse Diocese.