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	Jurors in Priest Abuse Case Begin Deliberations By Beth Miller News Journal March 30, 2007 http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS/70330042 Wilmington — A U.S. District Court jury now is deliberating whether an alumnus of Archmere Academy is entitled to damages for the sexual abuse he says he suffered from a priest who was on the faculty at the prestigious Catholic school. The Rev. Edward J. Smith, a Norbertine priest, offered no defense to the civil lawsuit, which allowed Naval Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 39 of Stafford, Va., to bring the case to a federal jury, though the statute of limitations had expired. Whitwell testified Thursday that he was orally and anally raped by the priest more than 200 times -- from the time he was a 14-year-old freshman at Archmere in 1982 until the summer of 1985. Jurors heard expert opinion Friday from Dr. Carol Tavani, a neuropsychiatrist, who said Whitwell was permanently injured by the abuse and would need intensive treatment to have a chance at improving the quality of his life and marriage. Smith no longer is on Archmere's staff. He was banned from its campus in 2002, school officials say, when allegations of abuse at a Philadelphia school were reported by the news media. He now lives at the Norbertine priory in Middletown. Contact Beth Miller at 324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com.
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