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	Closing Arguments in Sprauer Trial Begin Today Sexual Abuse Lawsuit against Salem Priest Likely Heads to Jury By Alan Gustafson Statesman Journal May 15, 2007 http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS/705150339/1001 Portland -- The sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem likely will go to a jury today. Trial testimony finished Monday. Starting at 9 a.m. today, a jury of seven women and five men will hear attorneys' closing arguments in the first sex-abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest to go to trial in Oregon. Jury deliberations will follow. During the two-week trial, multiple accusers described Sprauer as a pedophile priest who preyed on troubled teenage inmates in the 1970s at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. Defense witnesses and attorneys portrayed Sprauer as an innocent man, framed by ex-convicts seeking financial profit. At issue now is whether Sprauer and the state, which employed him as MacLaren chaplain in the 1970s, should be held financially liable for sex-abuse damages sought by three former inmates. Sprauer's accusers in the lawsuit -- Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville, Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem, and Norman Klettke Jr., 44, of Portland -- testified that they suffered long-term psychological problems after Sprauer sexually abused them at MacLaren. Five other men also testified that Sprauer abused them during the 1970s at the state-run juvenile facility. Sloan, Klettke and Paul are among 15 plaintiffs who have settled their cases against the Portland Archdiocese, which recently won approval of a $75 million plan to emerge from bankruptcy. But the settlement did not stop the plaintiffs from suing Sprauer and the state. Six more lawsuits are pending in Marion County. Testifying last Thursday in his own defense, Sprauer deemed the sex-abuse accusations "absolutely untrue." Monday, Sprauer was called back to the stand by Daniel Gatti, the Salem attorney representing Sloan, Klettke and Paul. Gatti quizzed Sprauer about a 1975 letter sent to the priest by the Portland Archdiocese, which is the governing body for Catholic priests and parishes in Western Oregon. Written by the archdiocese chancellor at the time, the letter stated that Sprauer would maintain his residence at MacLaren after he stepped down Jan. 31, 1975, to become chaplain at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem. "That's what it says. However, that is not correct," Sprauer said, adding that he moved to Salem when he assumed his duties at OSCI. Whether Sprauer went back to MacLaren after stepping down as juvenile facility chaplain looms as a big issue for the jury. Klettke testified that Sprauer molested him in 1978 -- more than three years after Sprauer left MacLaren. Sloan claimed that Sprauer sexually abused him on the way to a funeral in July 1975 -- about five months after Sprauer departed the juvenile facility. Gatti has tried to persuade the jury that Sprauer continued to have unfettered access to MacLaren, and that he repeatedly forced boys to engage in oral sex and mutual masturbation with him in detention cells, his office, a broom closet and a state car. Sprauer and his attorney told the jury that no abuse happened. Sprauer testified that he returned to MacLaren just one time after stepping down as chaplain -- to conduct an orientation tour for the Rev. Gordon Dickey, who took over as MacLaren chaplain in July 1975. Dickey testified that he drove Sloan to the funeral, not Sprauer. Several former MacLaren employees testified that they never heard any sexual abuse suspicions or allegations about Sprauer in the 1970s. The now-retired workers said it is highly unlikely that Sprauer could have abused any boys in detention cells that were checked every 15 minutes by MacLaren staffers. The cells also were subject to sound monitoring by staffers through an intercom system, former workers said. agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
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