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	Diocese Wants Judge to Take Blame for Mistrial Associated Press, carried in WCAX August 21, 2007 http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=6959779&nav=menu183_17_17_1 Burlington, Vt. (AP) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington wants the judge in a recent priest sex abuse case to take the blame for it ending in a mistrial. Judge Ben Joseph called a mistrial in June in a lawsuit involving alleged abuse by former priest Alfred Willis after a lawyer for the church began asking questions the judge had earlier declared off-limits. But now Diocesan lawyer Tom McCormick says the judge's instructions about the line of questioning were unclear, and that his co-counsel David Cleary thought he was operating within the bounds of the judge's instructions. The church is fighting an effort by lawyers for the man suing the church to collect $112,000 in legal fees for their work in the case before the mistrial.
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