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	Oct. 27 Trial Date Set for Fushek on Sex Charges Arizona Republic June 12, 2008 http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/12/20080612fushek0608.html A suspended Roman Catholic priest is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 27, nearly three years after a he was charged in a criminal complaint with a series of misdemeanor sex crimes that could result in jail time or registration as a sex offender. San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman set the trial date Thursday at a pre-trial conference. The hearing's purpose was to get the case back on track after two years of delays from pre-trial appeals. Monsignor Dale Fushek won a key victory when the Supreme Court ruled that he is entitled to jury trial, rather than a bench trial, on all charges. Jury selection is scheduled for two weeks before the trial, which is expected to last three weeks, court spokeswoman J.W. Brown said. Fushek, 55, once was the second most powerful priest in the Diocese of Phoenix. He coordinated visits by Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa, and founded the Life Teen program, an international ministry for Catholic teens. But the charges stem from Fushek's relationship with young men who were Life Teen members during the 1980s. He faces five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count each of indecent exposure and assault. "I'm glad it's finally coming to fruition and we can go forward," said Carl Mawhinney, one of the teens identified as a victim in the complaint. "Whatever the truth is will be heard. I really don't have an opinion on what I want. I will leave it to the jury to decide. I just want it over." Mawhinney said he never sought to come forward in Fushek's prosecution, but spoke to an investigator for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office when asked. He said he has reconciled with the church has received counseling. The contributing to the delinquency of a minor charges stem from what prosecutors describe as explicit conversations about sex acts, according to the complaint. Tom Hoidal, Fushek's attorney, argues these conversations were part of the Catholic sacrament of confession. The assault charge stems from an allegation of inappropriately touching one boy between 1985 and 1987. The indecent exposure charge alleges that Fushek exposed himself to a 17-year-old boy, standing naked while inviting the boy to join him in a hot tub at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, the complaint said. Fushek served as pastor of St. Timothy's for 20 years. The diocese suspended Fushek in December 2004, when he was named in a civil suit that accused him of watching and performing a sex act on himself while another priest sodomized a 14-year-old boy in 1985. The misdemeanor sex charges were filed nearly a year later November 2005. Fushek returned to preaching late last year when he was hired by the Praise and Worship Center, founded by many of his former parishioners. Fushek sent the diocese a letter of resignation, but the diocese considers him a "disobedient priest," saying he is technically a priest until The Vatican decides whether or not to defrock him.
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