Judgment Dismissed in Green Bay Diocese Sex Abuse Case

By Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
July 19, 2012

http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/judgment-dismissed-in-green-bay-diocese-sex-abuse-case-5466car-163120106.html

An Outagamie County judge has dismissed a $700,000 judgment against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay and ordered a new trial, citing juror bias in a landmark trial involving clergy sex abuse.

Outagamie Judge Nancy Krueger said a juror failed to divulge before or during the trial that she suspected the accused priest of inappropriate contact with her own brother and that she had a close friendship with a member of the plaintiffs' extended family.

"The overriding emphasis of this Court must be on the integrity of the justice and jury system - and the right of all parties to a fair and impartial trial," Krueger said in the ruling filed late Wednesday. "If even one juror harbors a material prejudice, the right to an impartial jury has been impaired," she said.

The jury in May found that the diocese had defrauded brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield by placing now-defrocked Father John Patrick Feeney into their parish in the 1970s without telling members about his sexual history involving children. But concerns about the juror's impartiality were raised by two fellow jurors who'd had conversations with her outside the courthouse after the verdict.

The diocese issued a statement lauding Krueger's ruling, reiterating its apology to the Merryfields for Feeney's actions and denying any responsibility on its own part, saying, "justice and the pursuit of truth compel us to fight these unfounded allegations."

Plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Anderson called the ruling disappointing and the diocese's demand for a new trial part of its ongoing refusal to accept accountability for its actions. "They still don't get it," he said.

The Outagamie verdict was the first time a victim had successfully sued the Catholic Church in Wisconsin since before 1995, when the state Supreme Court banned such claims under the First Amendment as an undue intrusion by the state into the affairs of a religious institution. The court reopened the door in 2007 for cases alleging fraud, and the Merryfields' was the first such case to go to trial.

Feeney molested the brothers in 1978 at St. Nicholas Parish in Freedom when they were 12 and 14 years old, in one case putting his hand on one of the boys' groin in the confessional. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 2011.

The diocese had asked Krueger to reduce the judgment, vacate the verdict or schedule a new trial, alleging misconduct by the juror and that the First Amendment bars the court from interfering with its decisions regarding priest placements. Krueger did not address the First Amendment issue in her ruling.

The Green Bay diocese is scheduled to defend itself in a civil trial next week in Las Vegas, where Feeney is alleged to have abused another boy. In that case, the victim alleges that abuse occurred after the Diocese of Green Bay had declared Feeney fit for ministry despite knowing about his long sexual history.