February 24, 2006

Priest convicted of sexual abuse

ELKHORN (WI)
Chicago Tribune

By M. Daniel Gibbard
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 24, 2006

ELKHORN, Wis. -- A jury found Rev. Donald McGuire, a well-known Chicago Jesuit, guilty late Thursday of molesting two teenage Loyola Academy students in Wisconsin in the 1960s.

Walworth County Circuit Judge James Carlson sent the jury of eight men and four women out about 3:30 p.m. They reached a verdict late Thursday in a case that is unusual because it's being tried in a different state than the one where most of the alleged abuse occurred.

McGuire, 75, who now lives in a Jesuit home in Hyde Park, did not take the stand during the weeklong trial.

During closing arguments Thursday, defense attorney Gerald Boyle tried to paint the two accusers as opportunists who were trying to cash in on a civil lawsuit filed in Illinois against the Jesuits.

Posted by kshaw at February 24, 2006 07:36 AM