By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
November 23, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/bail_lowered_for_mendham_man_a.html
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| Morris County Police |
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| View of a destroyed memorial monument at the Church of St. Joseph in Mendham. |
MENDHAM — A Superior Court judge today reduced the bail for a 37-year-old Mendham man accused of using a sledgehammer to destroy a monument to sexual abuse victims outside a Mendham church.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Diocese of Paterson said the monument will be replaced "exactly as it was," and may get some additional features.
Bail for Gordon Ellis was cut from $25,000 to $10,000, with a 10 percent option.
Judge Stuart Minkowitz, speaking by telephone in a Morristown courtroom from a judge's conference, agreed to the bail reduction after Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Peter Foy said he would not oppose cutting Ellis' bail.
Foy pointed out that Ellis has no prior convictions, but was arrested once and given a conditional discharge.
Ellis, appearing via a video hookup from the Morris County jail, was not represented by an attorney. "The lowest bail would be great," he said with a smile.
Minkowitz set the new bail with the condition that Ellis have no contact with the church.
Ellis, accused of criminal mischief, desecrating a monument and a weapons charge, allegedly destroyed the 400-pound basalt memorial outside St. Joseph Church in downtown Mendham on Friday evening. Police said alcohol played a role in the incident.
The millstone was dedicated in 2004 to children who suffered sexual abuse at St. Joseph and elsewhere. The parish once employed the Rev. James Hanley, a defrocked priest who admitted molesting more than a dozen children.
"They're going to replace the millstone as it was before," said Richard Sokerka, a spokesman for the diocese.
Some additional features – such as a representation of Jesus, surrounded by children – may be added, Sokerka said.
It will take several months before the work is completed, Sokerka said. Because the memorial was destroyed by an act of vandalism, an insurance claim will be submitted, he said. Also, with winter coming on, the new outdoor memorial probably won't be finished until the weather gets warmer.
"It's going to take awhile to get it back to the way it was," Sokerka said. "It's a very difficult situation."
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