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	Fushek Wins Fight for 5 Separate Trials on Sex Charges By Jim Walsh The Arizona Republic February 5, 2009 http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/05/20090205fushek0206.html An excommunicated Roman Catholic priest won a legal victory Thursday when a Superior Court judge upheld his right to five separate trials on misdemeanor sex charges involving his conduct with teenage boys. The ruling means that former Monsignor Dale Fushek, once the second-highest-ranking priest in the Diocese of Phoenix, successfully won a fight that prosecutors said now will make a conviction more difficult. Fushek is charged with one count each of assault and indecent exposure and five counts of contributing to the delinquency of minor, committed between 1984 and 1993 while he served as pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa. The charges involve reported sexual misconduct with a teenage boy. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer's long-awaited ruling found that the charges did not stem from same incident and that prosecutors have no right to lump them together in one trial. "The court does not believe that the alleged offenses are based on the same conduct or are otherwise connected in their commission," Kreamer wrote. "While the offenses alleged here generally involved Defendant's role as a priest, they span a 10-year time period, occurred in various settings, and are not otherwise connected in their commission." Kreamer's ruling returns the case to San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman for trial because the charges are misdemeanors. The County Attorney's Office had asked the Superior Court to overturn Goodman's ruling that Fushek is entitled to separate trials. Prosecutor Barbara Marshall in a Dec. 15 hearing before Kreamer said it would be more difficult to obtain a conviction on all charges if the cases were tried separately. "This is the only evidence that is going to prove the priest's motive," Marshall said, arguing for a consolidated trial. "It's a unique case that involves a unique defendant. This unique defendant abused his position for his own sexual gratification." Because of Goodman's ruling, Marshall said, "Our case has been cut off at the knees." Fushek arranged the visit of then-Pope John Paul II and founded the Life Teen youth ministry as the longtime pastor of St. Timothy's. He was excommunicated for breaking the terms of his suspension barring his participation in public ministry. Fushek ignored it, sending a letter of resignation to the diocese after he was hired to preach at services by the Praise and Worship Center, founded by many of his former parishioners at St. Timothy's.
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