Priest's Rape Appeal Denied

By Brendan J. Lyons
Albany Times Union
April 2, 2013

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Priest-convicted-of-rape-loses-appeal-4404119.php

Gary Mercure, the New York priest convicted of raping two altar boys in the 1980s, is shown in Berkshire County Superior Court, on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, in Pittsfield, Mass. (AP Photo/The Berkshire Eagle, Ben Garver)

A Massachusetts appellate court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of a former Albany Roman Catholic Diocese priest who was convicted of raping altar boys during trips to Berkshire County in the 1980s.

Gary Mercure, 65, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for his 2011 conviction on charges he raped two boys that he drove to Massachusetts on hiking and skiing trips. The victims were altar boys for Mercure at Our Lady of Annunciation parish in Warren County.

In his appeal, Mercure's attorney argued that the trial judge should not have allowed the jury to hear testimony about uncharged sex crimes from the two victims raped in Massachusetts, as well as from four other alleged victims who testified about incidents of sexual abuse by Mercure between 1981 and 1993. The uncharged crimes took place in New York, where the statute of limitations barred prosecution.

The three-judge appellate panel found the testimony relating to the uncharged crimes was not prejudicial, in part, because "the evidence was offered to show a common plan to isolate and rape altar boys whose families had close ties to the Annunciation parish."

Mercure was a priest at multiple parishes throughout the Albany diocese. He has been accused of raping or sexually abusing boys at three parishes: St. Teresa of Avila in Albany, St. Mary's in Glens Falls and Our Lady of Annunciation in Queensbury.

One of the victims Mercure was convicted of raping in Massachusetts has filed a federal lawsuit against Mercure and the Albany diocese in Burlington, Vt.

That victim, now 36, alleges Mercure raped him in three states, including on a swimming trip to Lake Saint Catherine in Poultney, Vt. The federal lawsuit was filed in Vermont because the statute of limitations there, unlike New York's, allows child victims to sue for damages within six years after they discover any emotional or physical problems related to the abuse.

A spokesman for the Albany diocese has said the federal lawsuit's claims "have no factual or legal basis." The Albany diocese has argued in court papers that it has no legal ties to the Burlington diocese and cannot be sued for the actions of a priest who worked in the Albany diocese but crossed state lines — leaving the diocese's jurisdictional boundaries — to commit rape.

Mercure is a separate defendant in the federal case and also is fighting the civil claims. His attorneys have declined to say how they are being paid.

Mercure can apply to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for a review of his criminal appeal, but there's no certainty the panel will hear the case. His attorney, Michael O. Jennings of Springfield, Mass., could not be reached for comment.

At Mercure's criminal trial in Berkshire County two years ago, one of his victims from Glens Falls testified that he was 8 years old when he met Mercure and became an altar boy. His mother, he said, was working at the Queensbury church helping teach religious classes to children.

"He was a manipulative man. I was a young boy ... a shy kid," he told the jury at Mercure's trial on Feb. 4, 2011.

The allegations against Mercure surfaced publicly in 2008 during an investigation by Warren County District Attorney Kathleen B. Hogan. She turned the case over to Massachusetts prosecutors after determining her office was time-barred from prosecuting Mercure in New York.

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @blyonswriter