BishopAccountability.org
	Diocese: We Can't Be Held Accountable for Accused Priest Associated Press, carried in Times Argus November 26, 2007 http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/THISJUSTIN/71126006 BURLINGTON, Vt. - A man who blames the Diocese of Burlington for a priest's alleged molestation of him more than 30 years ago returned to court today, five months after a judge declared a mistrial in his case. James Turner, 47, of Virginia Beach, Va., sat quietly as lawyers delivered opening statements focusing on whether the diocese can be held accountable for the actions of now-defrocked Rev. Alfred Willis. Willis, who was originally named in Turner's suit but settled out of court, is not on trial. The diocese is, for what Turner's lawyer told jurors Monday was a pattern of protecting pedophile priests and covering up their crimes out of concern for church liability. Turner says Willis molested him in a Latham, N.Y., hotel room in 1977 after the two joined with members of Turner's family for the ordination of Turner's older brother, Bernard Turner. According to Turner, Willis performed a sex act on him as he slept in the room, where six to eight people were also sleeping. Months later, Willis visited Turner's family in Derby and attempted the same thing but Turner rebuffed him, according to his lawsuit. Last June, the trial of Turner's case took an unexpected turn when Judge Ben Joseph declared a mistrial over questioning by church lawyer David Cleary that violated a pretrial order banning him from asking Turner about an alleged sexual relationship between Willis and Turner's brother. The retrial, before a new judge and new jury, got under way Monday with diocesan lawyer Thomas McCormick telling the 10-woman, four-man panel - 12 jurors plus two alternates - that the church had no notice of sexual misbehavior by Willis until 1978 and that it can't be held accountable for the incidents involving Turner, which allegedly happened in 1977. "The decision for you in this case is 'What did the diocese know and when did it know it?" McCormick said. He suggested that it was money that motivated Turner's claim, saying Turner once told his then-girlfriend that they "were going to get money and they were going to get a convertible." Turner's lawyer, Jerome O'Neill, opened his presentation to the jury by outlining the cases of three other priests he said were coddled by the diocese despite multiple allegations of sexual abuse against children. "Protecting children from sexual abuse is the right thing to do," O'Neill said. "Protecting diocese employees - particularly priests - who molest children is the wrong thing to do," he said. He said the rector at the seminary where Willis studied notified Diocese of Burlington officials while he was in training that there "an issue of homosexuality" with Willis, and that the diocese didn't investigate it. According to McCormick, the seminary never found any substance to the claim. O'Neill said Turner - who has had two failed marriages and struggled with depression, anxiety and other problems - traces them to lack of trust that he blames on his alleged molestation by Willis. 'The diocese acted with complete disregard to the lives of the children in its responsibility, specifically James Turner," O'Neill said.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.