Former Priest, Now a Prisoner, Sets Himself on Fire

By Ralph Cipriano
Big Trial
January 17, 2013

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/01/former-priest-now-prisoner-sets-himself.html

Ed Avery looked the prosecutor in the eye and said he didn't do it.

He said he never touched the 10-year-old altar boy known as "Billy Doe." The defrocked priest today rode a bus from the state prison up in Laurel Highlands, Somerset County, all the way to the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, at least a four-hour trip, to tell a jury it was all a lie.

Avery said he only pleaded guilty because if convicted at last year's first Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial, he was facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years. And the prosecution was offering him a sweetheart deal -- only 2 1/2 to 5 years in jail.

So on March 22, 2012, Avery pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child -- namely Billy Doe -- "to avoid a more lengthy prison term," Avery said.

"I did not want to die in prison," the 70-year-old former priest told an angry prosecutor.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti was incredulous. "You're sitting in state prison today because of [Billy Doe's} allegations," he said.

"I chose to take the plea," Avery corrected him.

When Cipoletti attempted to cut off Avery's answer, a delighted defense lawyer, Michael J. McGovern, stood up and told the judge that Cipolletti can't do that to "his witness."

Judge Ellen Ceisler had a pained look on her face as she glanced over at Avery, and then back at the defense attorney.

"I think he's a hostile witness at this point," she said.

On cross-examination, defense lawyer McGovern asked Avery if he ever had a sex "session" with Billy Doe.

"Absolutely not," Avery said. He couldn't sit here in court and say he was guilty of raping Billy "because it positively never happened," Avery said.

The rape that Avery pleaded guilty to supposedly happened in a storage closet at St. Jerome's parish after a 6:30 a.m. Mass back in 1999. But Avery said he almost never said Mass at St. Jerome's, because he was employed as the chaplain at Nazareth Hospital. He was at the hospital every day of the week, beginning at 3 a.m., and he stayed on the job until 8 p.m., Avery said.

This was his routine 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Avery testified. At Nazareth Hospital, Avery said Mass every day, and the service was televised, he testified.

McGovern asked Avery if he was friends with McGovern's client, Father Charles Engelhardt, on trial at the second archdiocese sex abuse trial for allegedly raping Billy Doe.

"We were acquaintances," Avery said.

A 2011 grand jury report said that after Father Engelhardt had sex with Billy in the sacristy at St. Jerome's, he told Father Engelhardt about it. According to that grand jury report, Father Engelhardt allegedly went to Billy and said he heard about his "session" with Father Engelhardt, and that Billy's session with Father Avery would soon begin. Then Avery raped the boy.

Did you ever discuss with my client having sex with Billy Doe, the defense lawyer asked.

No way, Avery said. The only thing he remembers discussing with Engelhardt was Pasta Night, which was every Wednesday at the St. Jerome rectory, where both Engelhardt and Avery lived at the time.

Why did you take the plea bargain, McGovern asked.

"To get a lesser sentence," Avery said. "Every motion that was made was turned down. The options were less and less. I didn't want to die in prison. That's why I took the plea."

McGovern asked if Avery was worried about being the target of a civil lawsuit filed by Billy Doe.

"I'm pretty much almost destitute at this time," he said.

The notion that Avery never touched Billy Doe, and only pleaded guilty because he got a sweetheart deal from the prosecution was first raised last September in an unsuccessful motion to reconsider bail for Msgr. William J. Lynn filed in Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Lynn, the first Catholic administrator in the nation to be sent to jail for the sexual sins of the clergy, was convicted by a jury on June 22 of one felony count for endangering the welfare of a minor, namely Billy Doe, by not doing enough to protect him from Avery. Lynn previously was denied bail by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who presided over his trial, as well as by the Superior Court.

In their motion, Lynn's lawyers said that Avery told his lawyers he never touched Billy Doe; he was also given a polygraph test, which he passed. Polygraph tests, however, are not admissible in Pennsylvania criminal courts.

"This newly discovered information leads to the disconcerting conclusion that the Commonwealth was driven by a zealous and single-minded desire to try [Lynn] and obtain a conviction, despite information that put into question the justice of pursing that outcome,"Lynn's lawyers concluded in their unsuccessful motion.

Lynn is sitting in jail serving a 3 to 6 year prison term for endangering Billy's welfare. But Avery's testimony today casts further doubt on the case that District Attorney Seth Williams has touted as a historic conviction in the war on the sexual abuse of children. It also puts Avery in jeopardy, defense lawyers said today in court.

Avery has already served 10 months of his sentence. He has another 18 months to go before he is eligible for parole. But, as defense lawyers pointed out, the state might take revenge on Avery by not granting him parole, and letting him serve his full five-year sentence. The state also could file perjury charges against Avery, defense lawyers said.

After Avery became a hostile witness, prosecutor Cipolletti teed off on him.

Avery had claimed he was destitute. That prompted Cipolletti to ask Avery if before he went to jail, he sold a property that he had originally purchased for a dollar for more than $1 million.

"Yes," Avery said.

Cipolletti then went through Avery's entire personnel file from the archdiocese's secret archive files. The prosecutor brought up the name of a man who came forward in 1992 to say that he had been abused by Avery back in the late 1970s.

The prosecutor read files that divulged how, when first confronted with those accusations of abuse, Avery had told Lynn and other Catholic higher-ups that if he had touched the boy during a night the boy spent in the priest's bed at the rectory, it was only accidental.

"I admitted that it happened," Avery said. "I was very sorry that it happened."

That prompted objections from defense lawyers, who said that Cipolletti was going far beyond the bounds of evidence previously discussed on direct testimony or cross-examination. The judge, however, said it was proper for Cipolletti to cast a wider net when attacking the credibility of a hostile witness.

The prosecutor went through the names of several other alleged victims of abuse from the 1970s who came forward to make accusations against Avery. The prosecutor also disclosed the race of each victim, several of whom were black, possibly for the benefit of a jury that had five African-Americans on it.

In response, Burton A. Rose, a defense lawyer representing Bernard Shero, a former teacher also accused of raping Billy Doe, asked what would have happened at the plea bargain hearing if Avery had been asked by Judge Sarmina if he had actually raped Billy. It was a question the prosecution-friendly judge never bothered to ask.

"I would have had to say no," Avery said.

"That would have scuttled the plea bargain," Rose asked.

Yes, Avery said.

"Did you sexually assault that young man?" Rose asked, referring to Billy Doe.

"I did not," Avery said.

"So help you God?" Rose asked.

"So help me God," Avery said.

"That's it," Rose said before sitting down.