By Ralph Ortega
The Star-Ledger
May 5, 2008
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/judge_denies_convicted_priests.html
A former Milford priest accused of child sex abuse wanted to postpone his trial because, his lawyer argued, it is too soon after the Pope's apology over the clergy sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church.
A request for an adjournment, however, was denied by a judge who started the latest trial of John M. Banko in Flemington today.
Hunterdon County Public Defender Peter Abatemarco, representing Banko, asked Judge Roger F. Mahon to put off the trial for a few more months.
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| John M. Banko |
Banko, Abatermarco said, was concerned Pope Benedict XVI's apology would impact his case.
The pontiff, during his visit to the United States last month, met with victims who were sexually molested by priests when they were children, and apologized for the abuse. The Pope also expressed shame to U.S. bishops, and a desire to do better.
Banko, 62, is already serving a 15-year-sentence for sexually molesting an altar boy after Sunday Mass twice in the 1990s.
He is now facing a new set of charges that accuse him of abusing a boy who was younger than 16 years old when Banko was pastor at St. Edward's Roman Catholic Church in Milford between September 1994 and May 1995.
Mahon turned down Abatemarco's request for an adjournment, saying that influences the papal visit might have on the case would surface during the jury selection process, now under way.
Banko was indicted on separate counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in the latest case.
Banko, known to parishioners as "Father Jack," has been an inmate at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge since his 2002 conviction.
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