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	Justice Who Wouldn't Prosecute Priest Due to Hear Priest Abuse Case By Natalie Arnold WBAY-TV - ABC2 February 6, 2008 http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7825672 Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser is under fire from victims of sexual abuse by a priest for not excusing himself from a case before the state's high court. As Outagamie County district attorney, Prosser refused to prosecute then-priest John Patrick Feeney 30 years ago. "He let the guy loose one previous time. Are you going to slap us one more time and let him loose again?" asks Todd Merryfield, who was sexually abused by Feeney in the 1970s. The case before the state Supreme Court right now focuses on the legality of a statute that has sent priests and former priests like Feeney to prison. Feeney was convicted in 2004 for sexually abusing two brothers in the late 1970s. Last month, Todd and Troy Merryfield filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay claiming the diocese covered up Feeney's sexual abuse of children. Now the Merryfields believe they have a new battle on their hands, this time to make sure Feeney stays behind bars. They say Prosser's presence on the Supreme Court threatens that. The question the state supreme court is mulling over right now has nothing to do with whether Bruce MacArthur, a former priest in Beaver Dam, sexually assaulted three children from 1966 to 1972. It has to do with whether the clock for the statute of limitations can stop ticking when the defendant leaves the state. The defense for MacArthur says it can't. They say the ex-priest should not have been charged in 2006. They are a set of circumstances that are almost identical in the case against former father John Feeney. And that has one of his victims very concerned. "The potential depending on how they rule on the case in front of them, Mr. Feeney... he could be released from prison," Merryfield said. But it's not just the question that really bothers him, it's who is going to answer it. Prosser was Outagamie County district attorney thirty years ago, who told the Merryfields he would not charge Feeney. "His rationale was, who is going to believe the story out of a couple of kids over the story from a Catholic priest?" Todd Merryfield says. Making that decision then, the Merryfields wonder how impartial Prosser can be now. "I can't fathom what's going through his head that he would, would not even consider recusing himself from this case." Contact: narnold@wbay.com
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