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	Messy Abuse Trial Set for Jury By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald December 1, 2007 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/NEWS04/712010339 BURLINGTON — It was originally labeled as the first priest misconduct lawsuit in years to reach a Vermont jury. Then, after a mistrial last June, it was said to be the only one in the country to go to retrial. On Friday, however, it was simply ugly. A jury is set to deliberate next week on the civil lawsuit of James Turner, a 47-year-old Northeast Kingdom native who charges that Vermont's Catholic Church failed to protect him from childhood sexual abuse by the former Rev. Alfred Willis, a priest in Burlington, Montpelier and Milton before being defrocked in 1985. Lawyers for both sides capped their cases Friday in Chittenden Superior Court after a messy exchange involving Turner's former girlfriend. Robyn Bordwine of Newport News, Va., testified that Turner showed her a newspaper article in 2004 reporting the diocese had paid $150,000 to another man abused as a child by Willis. "He thought his case would be worth more," she said of Turner. "We joked around about a convertible Mustang." Bordwine, however, believed the case was too old to prosecute under Vermont's statutes of limitations. She believed Turner knew that, too, but was going forward for financial gain. "To me it's dirty money," she testified. "I don't want it." But Turner's lawyer, Jerome O'Neill, had strong words in response. "The reality is you came up here to stick it to Jim Turner in the meanest way you could," the lawyer told Bordwine. "The reason is you're the jilted lover." O'Neill asked Bordwine if she was a lawyer. "No," she replied. O'Neill continued: "You didn't go to law school?" Bordwine: "No." O'Neill: "But you made up your own mind what the statute of limitations was?" The lawyer asked Bordwine if she realized that the pertinent statute of limitations allowed people to file court cases up to six years after they realize their abuse has caused personal harm. Bordwine: "No." O'Neill then referred to a 2006 legal deposition in which Bordwine said something different about Turner's desire for money. Bordwine said in the deposition: "He said he would be independently wealthy one day." O'Neill replied in the deposition: "What he said he wanted to do was to earn the money to be able to be independently wealthy one day, did he not?" Bordwine said in the deposition: "Right." O'Neill replied in the deposition: "He didn't refer specifically to the diocese, did he?" Bordwine said in the deposition: "No." Bordwine wasn't the only witness who sparked disagreement in court Friday. In videotaped testimony played earlier this week, Susan Via, a former deputy Chittenden County state's attorney, charged that the late Vermont Bishop John Marshall tried to intimidate prosecutors investigating Willis in another case in the late 1970s. According to Via, Marshall told then State's Attorney Mark Keller and his assistants almost 30 years ago that Willis' actions were "gravely wrong," the priest was "very remorseful" and the parents involved didn't want to press charges to protect their children and their church. When Keller told the bishop he still wanted to prosecute, Via recalled, Marshall said if the state's attorney went forward, "this could be viewed by the church as Mark committing the sin of scandal." Keller grew up Catholic and was a graduate of St. Michael's College and Notre Dame. Via considered Marshall's comments to be an obstruction of justice. But speaking on the witness stand Friday, Keller and another assistant didn't recall the meeting in such detail. "I remember somebody from the diocese was trying to convince our office not to prosecute," Keller said. But as for the words "sin of scandal," he said, "I don't recall ever hearing the term." Keller, now a state district court judge, said he didn't remember any obstruction of justice. "That's what I did all day long — I met with people who tried to convince me not to prosecute their cases." But Keller said the bishop spoke only of Willis' specific actions at one parish. Only later did Keller learn that the bishop knew but didn't disclose that the priest had a history of abuse in other places. O'Neill asked if that information would have been helpful to know. Keller replied: "Obviously the more information you have about a person, the better it is." Marshall, who served as bishop from 1972 to 1992, died in 1994. Keller eventually tried to prosecute Willis on felony charges of lewd or lascivious conduct with a child, but the state's attorney ultimately couldn't file a court case because no parent would cooperate. Turner is one of more than 30 recent accusers to take Vermont's largest religious denomination to court. At least six previous accusers resolved similar civil lawsuits against the diocese by accepting a total of more than $1.5 million in settlement money before their cases went to trial. Lawyers for Turner and the diocese tried but failed to negotiate a settlement. A 12-member jury is scheduled to take Monday off and reconvene Tuesday to decide a verdict. Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com
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