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	Appeals Run out on Fushek Trials By Jim Walsh The Arizona Republic September 24, 2009 http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/09/24/20090924b3filler0924.html Prosecutors have exhausted all appeals of a lower-court ruling that an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest is entitled to five separate trials on misdemeanor sex charges. Nearly five years after former Monsignor Dale Fushek was charged in December 2005 with sexual misconduct, the one- time second-highest ranking official in the Diocese of Phoenix has not been convicted of any crime. In the latest rulings, the Arizona Supreme Court and the Arizona Court of Appeals both denied review of special actions filed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Prosecutor Barbara Marshall had appealed a ruling by San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman that Fushek is entitled to the five jury trials. The case now heads back to Goodman's court. Marshall said at a previous court hearing that the charges needed to be tried together to prove Fushek's pattern of sexual motivation and that because of Goodman's ruling, "our case has been cut off at the knees." Fushek is charged with indecent exposure, assault and five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor committed between 1984 and 1993. The charges stem from Fushek's 20 years as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa, where he founded the international Life Teen ministry for teenagers. Reach the reporter at jim.walsh@arizonarepublic.com
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