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	Court Overturns Sex Conviction of Priest By Roger Alford Associated Press, carried in Journal Gazette May 24, 2007 http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/17274468.htm Frankfort, Ky. - The Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the sex abuse conviction against a former priest Thursday because his earlier sex crimes were wrongly used as evidence. The court ordered a new trial for Daniel C. Clark, who is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted in 2003 of abusing two brothers over four years, beginning when they were 8 and 9. The court's 5-2 ruling also said the jury was not properly instructed before it began deliberating. The attorney who argued Clark's appeal, David Lambertus, was in court Thursday and didn't return messages for comment. The ruling drew immediate response from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a 7,000-member group. "Our hearts ache for these brave victims who did everything society asks crime victims to do," spokeswoman Barbara Dorris said. "They came forward, helped law enforcement ... and now must feel as though all their strength, risk and effort was wasted." Clark regularly visited the boys' home and often took them to football practice and skating. The boys testified Clark abused them in their home and on those outings. When Clark took the witness stand, he denied that he had molested the boys. In 1988, Clark had pleaded guilty to sodomy and sexual abuse for molesting two boys at St. Rita Catholic Church in Louisville, where he was assistant pastor. He served 90 days on a work-release program and five years' probation. The Archdiocese removed him from public ministry then, but he was allowed to volunteer and wear his priest's collar. The Vatican removed Clark from the priesthood in 2004. In the 2003 trial, prosecutors lamented that the earlier sentence was insufficient and allowed him to abuse more victims. Clark's lawyer argued that the trial judge should not have allowed evidence about the 1988 guilty plea, and the Supreme Court agreed. In 2003, the Louisville archdiocese agreed to pay $25.7 million to nearly 250 people who said they were abused. Clark was accused in 19 of the lawsuits included in that settlement.
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