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	Supreme Court Hears Priest Abuse Case Appeals By Sam Hemingway Burlington Free Press October 31, 2008 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20081031/NEWS02/810310314/-1/NEWS05 MONTPELIER — Lawyers for the state's Roman Catholic diocese told the Vermont Supreme Court that the case of an altar boy molested by a priest in 1977 should be thrown out because the victim waited too long to file his lawsuit. The case was appealed to the high court from Chittenden Superior Court by the diocese and lawyers for the victim, James Turner of Virginia Beach, Va., following a contentious 2007 trial that ended with a $15,000 jury award for Turner. Attorney Kaveh Shahi argued that Turner was obligated to begin pursuing his claims against the church within six years of 1981, when he was notified that the priest who molested him, the Rev. Alfred Willis, had been caught fondling altar boys in Milton. He learned of the Milton incident from his brother, the Rev. Bernard Turner, a diocesan priest. Under the so-called statute of limitations rules, a person seeking damages in a case like Turner's is required to file a lawsuit within six years of the incident itself or from the time when the person realized the extent of the harm the incident caused. "We respectfully submit that by that time he was certainly old enough and aware enough that Father Willis was associated with the diocese," Shahi, referring to Turner, told the five justices. Turner was 20 years old in 1981. Justice John Dooley expressed reservations with Shahi's argument. "It doesn't show anything about the obligations of the diocese to protect" Turner from abuse, Dooley said. Michael Green, a lawyer for Turner, told the justices Turner remained unaware of the diocese's culpability for Willis' behavior until he read a newspaper report about a 2002 church settlement with another Willis victim. "Jim Turner lived in Virginia and until then, he had no reason to know the diocese was responsible for the criminal actions of Willis," Green said. Green also said the diocese for years kept secret information it had about Willis' sexual misconduct with boys. Turner, who claimed in his lawsuit that Willis performed a sex act on him while Turner was sleeping in a Latham, N.Y., motel room after a family religious ceremony, was awarded $15,000 in damages in late 2007 after a five-day jury trial. The jury found that the diocese had failed to adequately supervise Willis, but that Turner did wait too long to file his lawsuit. Judge Matthew Katz later threw out the statute of limitations portion of the jury's verdict and the diocese appealed Katz's ruling. The trial was the second on Turner's claim. A trial in June 2007 ended in a mistrial after Judge Ben Joseph ruled that a church lawyer had violated a pre-trial order prohibiting questions about an alleged homosexual relationship between Willis and the Rev. Bernard Turner, James Turner's brother. Joseph later ordered the church to pay Turner and his lawyers $112,450 in legal costs for causing the mistrial. At Thursday's hearing, the diocese also asked the high court to throw out the $112,450 award. Attorney Dan Burchard, representing the diocese, said Joseph had offered conflicting signals during the trial about whether it was permissible for a church lawyer to allude to the relationship between Willis and Turner's brother while Turner was on the witness stand. Green said the questions were a "coy and clever strategy" to make Turner, aware of pre-trial order, look evasive in front of the jury. Green also asked the justices to order a new trial on damages in the case because Katz, at the second trial, had wrongly allowed an active member of the Catholic faith to sit on the jury. The high court took the appeal motions under advisement and gave no indication as to when it might rule on the matter. The next priest sex abuse trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 2. Twenty priest sex abuse cases are pending at Chittenden Superior Court. Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or e-mail at shemingway@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.
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