ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
ALBANY -- The head of a survivors group for priest abuse victims wants state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo removed from a church protest case, citing bias in favor of the Catholic diocese and conflicts of interest.
"It is my belief that a very serious miscarriage of justice has occurred and will continue to occur unless the court immediately reviews these facts," Mark Lyman said Monday in papers filed with the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court.
Lyman has organized Sunday morning protests outside Holy Cross Church in Albany for the past 30 weeks, since its pastor, the Rev. Daniel Maher, was accused of sexually assaulting a Colonie child twice in 1973. Demonstrations outside the Western Avenue church continue, even after a diocesan review board cleared Maher of wrongdoing.
Last fall, Spargo signed a temporary restraining order barring protesters from being any closer than 100 feet from church and school entrances.