Priest Loses Bid for Separate Trial in Sex-Abuse Case

By John P. Martin
Philadelphia Inquirer
January 4, 2012

www.philly.com/philly/news/20120104_Priest_loses_bid_for_separate_trial_in_sex-abuse_case.html

One of the Philadelphia area priests charged with sexually abusing altar boys in the 1990s on Wednesday lost a bid to have his case heard separately.

After a brief hearing on the matter, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said the Rev. Charles Engelhardt will be tried with three other priests accused of child-sex assault or conspiring to enable the alleged abuse, the judge's office said.

Through his lawyer, Michael J. McGovern, Engelhardt had argued that it was unfair to try him with the others because he belongs to an independent religious order, the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, while his co-defendants are priests supervised by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The judge's ruling came two weeks after another defendant in the case, former school teacher Bernard Shero, won his bid for a separate trial. Shero, Engelhardt and the former Rev. Edward Avery are accused of molesting the same Northeast Philadelphia altar boy.

Jury selection in the priests case is scheduled to begin in late February with opening arguments a month later.