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	Arizona Supreme Court Weighing Priest's Misdemeanor Trial Case Catholic News Service January 15, 2008 http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=26443 Msgr. Fushek's petition to the state Supreme Court asks for a jury trial because although the charges are misdemeanors he could be ordered to register as a sex offender if convicted. PHOENIX (CNS) - The Arizona Supreme Court is weighing whether a priest facing misdemeanor charges of sexual improprieties with teens is entitled to a trial by jury. Msgr. Dale Fushek has been on leave from active ministry since late in 2004, when accusations arose that he behaved inappropriately when a seminarian assigned to his parish sexually abused a youth. Msgr. Fushek, who founded Life Teen, an international youth ministry program, is still awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges filed in 2005. Several counts were later dropped, but one count of assault, one of indecent exposure and five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor remain unresolved. In December, the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Msgr. Fushek's claim that he is entitled to have the charges heard by a jury, rather than in a judge-only trial, the norm with misdemeanors. Msgr. Fushek's petition to the state Supreme Court asks for a jury trial because although the charges are misdemeanors he could be ordered to register as a sex offender if convicted. A lower court concluded that he is entitled to a jury trial because "the sex-offender label, unlike the mere conviction of a misdemeanor, 'changes the offender's status and acceptance in society' and such status is 'life-altering,'" according to a summary of the case on the state Supreme Court's Web site that quoted the judge's decision. The judge characterized the requirement to register as a sex offender as a "modern-day scarlet letter," said the court summary, "constituting an additional, severe, direct statutory consequence." The prosecuting attorney appealed, conceding Msgr. Fushek was entitled to a jury trial on the indecent exposure charge, but not the other counts. It's unknown when the Supreme Court might rule in the case. Early in 2007, the Diocese of Phoenix agreed to a $100,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed over the original accusation that Msgr. Fushek had watched while a seminarian sexually assaulted a teen; the accusation was based on the alleged recovery of a repressed memory. The settlement did not imply any admission of guilt, diocesan attorney Mike Haran said at the time. At Thanksgiving Msgr. Fushek and a former priest who once served with him at St. Timothy Parish in Mesa launched a new Praise and Worship Center, offering nondenominational worship services they say are intended to supplement participants' faith journeys. The diocese Jan. 3 warned Catholics not to participate in the center's activities. In November Msgr. Fushek, the former vicar general of the Diocese of Phoenix, told reporters he had resigned from the priesthood. A diocesan spokesman said no formal steps had been taken for Msgr. Fushek to be laicized, which involves an appeal to the Vatican.
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