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	Jury Set to Deliberate Church Sex Abuse Case By Kevin O'Connor Times Argus May 13, 2008 http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/NEWS01/805130366/1002/NEWS01 BURLINGTON — A jury could issue a verdict today on a call to fine Vermont's Catholic Church up to a record $14.3 million in a priest misconduct trial under way in Chittenden Superior Court. Lawyers for 40-year-old Burlington native Perry Babel, in closing arguments Monday, said the state's largest religious denomination must pay for its negligent hiring and supervision of former priest Edward Paquette, who allegedly fondled the plaintiff 40 to 100 times when he was a fourth- and fifth-grade altar boy. "It's remarkable the diocese comes in here and says, 'Yes, we know it was wrong, but we have no responsibility for it,'" attorney John Evers said. "What's it going to take to make them understand this cannot happen ever again? Send them a big enough message that they get it." Babel's lawyers, suggesting figures such as $5,000 per incident or $10,000 per year of suffering, said those numbers would add up, with interest, to compensatory damages of $886,000 to $2.3 million. In addition, Evers called for additional punitive damages of $6 million to $12 million "to make sure this diocese or any other organization is prevented from doing this sort of thing again." Evers referred to church personnel records that showed the diocese transferred Paquette to his client's Burlington parish without telling anyone it knew the priest had molested boys first in Massachusetts, then in Indiana and the Vermont cities of Rutland and Montpelier. "They brought a known pedophile here and gave him unlimited access to boys," Evers told the jury. "You have an opportunity to make a decision that is momentous, that is historic." The statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington doesn't dispute Babel's allegations against the priest, but says it isn't liable, in part because it was following since-debunked advice of psychiatrists who at one point called for 11 sessions of electric shock therapy. "It's hard to put yourself back in a situation where someone who had molested a boy would be given another chance," church counsel Thomas McCormick said. "It's easy 30 years later to say that doesn't make any sense at all. Times were different then. The belief was, 'He's a priest — can we help heal him so he can continue to serve the community?'" But McCormick spent most of his closing statement casting doubt on the plaintiff and his call for punitive damages. "Vermont isn't like California — this isn't a state where lawsuits turn into lotteries," the church lawyer told the jury. "You represent the community. You know that's an absurdity." "Maybe looking back on it they gave Father Paquette one too many chances," McCormick said. "Mr. Babel should not have been touched. But we need to be realistic here." Babel has testified that, afraid to speak out as a child, he had nightmares of Paquette chasing him, then sought escape through alcohol and marijuana by sixth grade and today suffers from anger, anxiety, depression, loss of faith and trust and, specific to his four-year marriage, problems with sexual intimacy. McCormick described things differently. "What he has proved to you was he was touched and he had a bad experience, 20 to 30 seconds, 40 to 100 times," said the church lawyer, adding punitive damages were too much "for something that Mr. Babel could get fixed if he'd only go to therapy for a year." Diocesan lawyers went on to play videotape of their asking the plaintiff about his sexual experiences in high school and adulthood. "This is not a man who doesn't have sex, this is a man who says he has some undefined problems," McCormick told the jury. "What's that worth?" Church counsel also questioned why the plaintiff, now of Denver, Colo., took a plane to Vermont if, as he testified, he had a fear of flying. "Why would you put yourself through that?" McCormick said. "Maybe it's because the lawyers are going to ask for $12 to 14 million." "This is a church with aging priests, aging nuns and diminishing numbers," its lawyer concluded. "The message should go out: Compensation yes, lottery tickets no." McCormick's closing statement brought a stern rebuttal from Babel's other lawyer, Jerome O'Neill, who said it showed "how deep and how low this diocese will go" to avoid taking responsibility. "Why did Perry Babel fly here?" his lawyer said. "He flew here to get justice. But the diocese will stoop to say anything to get you to find a verdict that favors its cause. The only thing it cares about is protecting itself." O'Neill said a ruling for the church would send the message, "Yep, you attacked this guy and you pulled it off." Whether the jury finds the diocese negligent in its hiring and supervision of Paquette will determine whether the church faces costly damages now and in a string of pending civil lawsuits. Vermont Catholic leaders, having spent six years and more than $1.57 million to resolve at least eight past lawsuits, still must tackle 24 more involving nine past priests. Of those pending cases, 17 involve Paquette. Church counsel had wanted to argue that Babel's case was too old to prosecute under the state's statutes of limitations. But Judge Matthew Katz ruled against the diocese Monday, saying it had not shown evidence that the plaintiff knew of the church's culpability outside of the legal timeframe that people can file lawsuits after they realize someone's negligence has caused personal harm. Babel's priest misconduct case is the second in recent Vermont history to reach trial.
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