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| Jury Reconvenes Today in Sprauer Trial Deliberations on Tuesday Ended without a Verdict By Alan Gustafson Statesman Journal May 16, 2007 http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS/705160338/1001 Portland — A jury deliberated for about two hours Tuesday afternoon without reaching a verdict in the sexual abuse trial of the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem. The 12-member jury, composed of seven women and five men, is scheduled to resume deliberations at 10 this morning.
The Multnomah County panel is weighing whether Sprauer sexually abused three teenage boys at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn during the 1970s. If the jury concludes that no abuse occurred, the civil case would end with that decision. If the jury finds that Sprauer abused one or more of the three plaintiffs, it would consider awarding financial damages to each individual abused by the priest. Each of Sprauer's accusers — Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville, Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem, and Norman Klettke Jr., 44, of Portland — is asking the jury to award compensation totaling $2.4 million. Sloan, Klettke and Paul are among 15 plaintiffs who have settled their cases against the Portland Archdiocese, which recently won a approval of a $75 million plan to emerge from bankruptcy. The settlement did not stop the plaintiffs from pursuing civil claims against Sprauer and the state, which employed him as MacLaren's Catholic chaplain from 1972-75. Six more sex-abuse lawsuits against the priest are pending in Marion County. Sloan, Paul and Klettke have suffered a multitude of problems because of the sex abuse inflicted on them at MacLaren, Salem attorney Daniel Gatti said Tuesday in his closing remarks to the jury. "Michael Sprauer was the IED. He was the land mine," Gatti said. "Michael Sprauer caused permanent pain for which we are asking you to award damages." Several times, Gatti's voice quavered with emotion as he spoke to the jury. Referring to the three plaintiffs, he said: "They don't trust anybody. But they're going to trust you to do the right thing." Gatti urged jurors to "hold Michael Sprauer accountable for the choices he has made." "He'll never do it," Gatti said, "and you've got to do it." Sprauer's attorney, Thomas Cooney Sr., reminded the jury that the priest took the stand and adamantly denied the charges against him. "They say he did it, he says he didn't," Cooney said. "How do you know? How does anybody know when sex abuse occurs because only two people are there?" State records of Sprauer's employment tenure at MacLaren, from Oct. 1, 1972, until Jan. 31, 1975, undermine the credibility of the accusers, Cooney said. The three men described being abused before Sprauer arrived at MacLaren or after he left. The allegations against Sprauer did not surface until a flurry of publicized lawsuits were filed against him in 2003, Cooney said in his closing comments. "It seems that all three of these gentlemen saw something in the press about lawsuits," he said. "And when they saw that, all three of them suddenly had recovered memories." William Tharp, a special state assistant attorney general, also cast doubt on the credibility of the men accusing the priest of decades-old abuse. "They all went to MacLaren. They all have criminal backgrounds. All are coming forward with refreshed memories," Tharp said. "Coincidence?" Contact: agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709 |
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