As a DA in '79, He Reportedly Refused to Prosecute Priest Who Was Convicted 25 Years Later
Associated Press, carried in Telegraph Herald
March 16, 2008
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=194621
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser has recused himself from the two cases on the docket this session that involve the Catholic Church and allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
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| Photo by Morry Gash |
The quiet withdrawals this month followed reports that he declined to prosecute a priest accused of child molestation while District Attorney in Outagamie County in the 1970s.
The priest was convicted of the charges 25 years later.
Prosser's seat was empty when justices gathered to hear the second case, Hornback v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee and Diocese of Madison. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said Prosser would not be participating in the case.
She made a similar announcement on March 4 regarding the case of State v. MacArthur. Lawyers for Bruce MacArthur argued that the statute of limitations had expired when the former priest was charged in 2006 for sexual misconduct with kids in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The AP was unable to contact Prosser for comment Saturday.
Documents released in February showed that Prosser told a mother in 1979 when he was Outagamie County district attorney that he did not want to prosecute a priest accused of abusing her sons because "it would be too hard on the boys."
In that case, the Green Bay priest, John Patrick Feeney, who is now 81, eventually was convicted in 2004 on three counts of sexual assault of a minor and one count of attempted sexual assault of a minor.
After two brothers, Todd and Troy Merryfield, testified to convict the defrocked priest, word about Prosser's refusal to prosecute Feeney at that time began to spread.
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