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	Rape Trial against Former Local Priest Postponed Again The Post-Star November 15, 2010 http://poststar.com/news/local/article_2a3b3c2a-f102-11df-be84-001cc4c03286.html The trial of a former local Catholic priest on child sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts has been postponed again -- the third time the trial has been adjourned since July. Gary Mercure was to stand trial Nov. 1, but the case has been postponed because of "unavailability of the prosecutor," according to the Berkshire Superior Court Clerk's Office. Mercure -- who was a priest assigned to Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury and St. Mary's in Glens Falls for more than a decade in the 1980s and 1990s -- has been indicted on charges he sexually abused two boys in the Pittsfield, Mass., area in the 1980s. He faces two felony charges of rape of a child by force and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14, both felonies. The alleged victims were boys from the Glens Falls area who Mercure took to Massachusetts. He has pleaded not guilty and is free pending trial. He has been accused of sexual abuse of the boys and others in Warren County, but could not be prosecuted locally because of a statute of limitations that generally requires felonies be prosecuted within 5 years of commission, authorities said. No new trial date on the current charges has been set, but it is scheduled for the next criminal court term, which starts in January, clerk Deborah Capeless said. The delay marked the third time this year the trial was postponed. It was originally scheduled for July, then September and finally Nov. 1. Mercure was first charged in October 2008. The case prosecutor, Berkshire County Assistant District Attorney Paul Caccaviello, could not be reached Monday. His office said he would not be in for an extended period of time. Fred Lantz, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said he could not detail the reason for the delay. Mercure's lawyer, Michael Jennings, could not be reached for comment Monday. Mercure was a pastor at the two local churches for 12 years until he resigned from St. Mary's in 1995, citing health reasons. He later resumed the ministry at churches in Troy, until the diocese suspended him in January 2008 amid an investigation into child sexual abuse allegations. He was formally removed from the ministry in August 2008. His last known address was in Troy.
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