LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Mercury News
LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A sad fraternity of handsome, well-spoken men gathered in a courthouse this week to recall through the blur of time and denial what was done to them as children by a now-retired Roman Catholic priest.
Michael Wempe, 66, the gray-haired defendant on trial for molestation, sits quietly watching the witnesses, color rising in his florid face when descriptions from the men he knew as boys become especially graphic.
He has wept once after hearing of the long-term anguish suffered by one.
His lawyer says he has changed, that church-ordered therapy helped him and he is remorseful. The attorney also says Wempe is not guilty of charges by one young man that have brought him to criminal court at last.