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	Judge: Enough Evidence for Salinas Priest to Go to Trial By Sunita Vijayan The Salinas Californian October 24, 2009 http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091024/NEWS01/910240307/1002 Salinas priest accused of sodomy with a minor, possession of child porn A defense lawyer lost his argument Friday that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to justify a trial for a Salinas priest accused of sexually assaulting a minor. Monterey County Superior Court Judge Larry E. Hayes ruled that the District Attorney's Office, which introduced evidence during a June 4 preliminary hearing, showed sufficient probable cause to move the case forward. The Rev. Antonio Cortes was ordered to stand trial on felony charges of sodomy with a minor and misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography. In his argument that probable cause hadn't been shown, defense lawyer Eugene Martinez said the 16-year-old who accused Cortes told a Salinas police officer that he was uncertain whether penetration had happened during the alleged assault. Hayes, however, said that in his interpretation of the teen's interview with police, he concluded that the act was indeed committed. "On the question of penetration, it's not just a 'coin toss' as argued by the defense," he said. "There was penetration, however slight, that is sufficient ... with the charge of sodomy. ... We're not dealing with a 6-year-old, we're not dealing with an 8-year-old. We're dealing with a 16-year-old." The judge also rejected Martinez's argument that a detective who testified in court should not be considered an expert in determining the ages of the children depicted in child pornography that authorities say they seized from Cortes' computer hard drives. Cortes, 42, was placed on paid administrative leave after his arrest on April 16 at St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas. His arrest came two days after the boy made the allegations to Salinas police. According to court documents, Cortes has been working in parishes within the Diocese of Monterey for more than 13 years. Cortes first met the boy, court records show, when the child was 13 and Cortes was working as the parish priest of the Holy Trinity Church in Greenfield. According to court documents, the teen told police that he and his family left for Calexico, Mexico, soon after but returned to live in Salinas in April 2007. Cortes had since moved to become parish priest of St. Mary's, where the boy did community service hours upon his return to the county. Cortes' supporters, some carrying religious books, filled the courtroom, as they have in past court appearances by the defendant. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 13, when his other defense attorney, Miguel Hernandez, is expected to make his case for suppressing items that he claims were illegally seized during a search of Cortes' residence at the rectory, according to court documents. Court documents show that the videos in the seized hard drives had sexually explicit titles and that the computer also had images of young children in sex acts. On Aug. 17, Judge Adrienne Grover granted Cortes' request to visit his elderly parents who live in Freeman, S.D., for two to three days before Sept. 10. Contact: svijayan@thecalifornian.com
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