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	Official: Ex-Mendham Priest, Molester Homeless Judge Reduces Hanley's Bail, but He'd Have Nowhere to Go By Abbott Koloff Daily Record [New Jersey] February 9, 2007 http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702090342 A former Morris County priest and admitted child abuser would be homeless if he were released from the jail where he's being held on charges of making terroristic threats against hotel workers, authorities said on Thursday. James T. Hanley, a former pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Mendham, was indicted last year on charges of making terroristic threats and possession of a weapon. Police said he brandished a bat during an argument over payment of a hotel bill in Secaucus. A Hudson County judge reduced his bail from $50,000 to $20,000 on Thursday, authorities said, after Hanley asked that it be reduced to $5,000. During the hearing, it came out that Hanley, who has been in the Hudson County jail since the end of October, would have no place to go once he gets out of jail, authorities said. "At this point, he's homeless," said Howard Bell, a Hudson County assistant prosecutor. Hanley had told the court he could return to a Garfield rooming house where he had been living, Bell said, but the court determined that the rooming house wouldn't let him back. Bell said a nephew of Hanley also would not take him. A public defender who represents Hanley did not return a phone call on Thursday. Hanley, who previously rejected a plea deal, has applied for a pretrial intervention program, authorities said. The director of the program approved the application, according to Bell, and now prosecutors must determine whether to accept him. Such programs typically require a defendant to complete community service or counseling in exchange for having records of criminal charges expunged. Prosecutors had offered Hanley a deal in which they planned to ask a judge for probation along with 364 days of jail time. If he's found guilty of making terroristic threats, a third-degree crime, Hanley would face a prison sentence of three to five years. The court scheduled another hearing for Hanley on Feb. 22. Authorities said Hanley would be given one last chance to agree to a plea bargain at that hearing. It would be canceled if prosecutors agree to accept Hanley into pretrial intervention. Hanley has admitted to molesting at least a dozen children in Mendham and at other parishes where he worked decades ago. He was a central figure in a lawsuit involving more than two dozen victims who received a $5 million settlement from the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese in 2005. He had been charged with aggravated assault earlier this year after police alleged that he swung a baseball bat during a dispute with management at a Secaucus hotel. He said he was staying in the hotel while moving from an apartment in Paterson, and that he had been using the bat as a cane. Abbott Koloff can be reached at (973) 989-0652 or akoloff@gannett.com.
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