Teacher's Lawyer Says Sex Accuser "Gaming System"

NECN
January 24, 2013

http://www.necn.com/01/24/13/Jurors-could-hear-from-accused-priest-ex/landing_nation.html?&apID=8a9274e6e9e546a5b32c6cdbed49c74e

A lawyer for a Philadelphia Catholic school ex-teacher accused of raping an altar boy says the accuser is "gaming the system" after years of drug addiction.

The lawyer says his awkward, vision-impaired client is an easy target for someone hoping to sue the Roman Catholic church.

The 24-year-old accuser says he was raped by two priests and the sixth-grade teacher, Bernard Shero.

Philadelphia prosecutors relied on the accuser to file a landmark 2011 grand jury report and charge the three men with passing the boy around.

But in closing arguments Thursday, lawyer Burton Rose asked why the priests would disclose their crimes to a lay teacher they barely knew.

Shero wrote a suicide note last year saying he had no friends. He cried in court Thursday as Rose read the note aloud.