Former Priest Convicted of Rape Wants New Trial

By Brittany Bade
WBIR
June 5, 2015

http://www.wbir.com/story/news/2015/06/04/former-priest-convicted-of-rape-wants-new-trial/28504765/

William Casey in Sullivan County, TN court in 2011.

(WBIR-Greeneville) A former East Tennessee priest, convicted of raping an altar boy in 2011, wants a new trial.

William Casey is serving a more than 30 years after he was convicted of inappropriately touching Warren Tucker in the 1970s.

"He used to take me back and forth from Kingsport to Greene County. Where he lives and had a rural cabin on his property. There was the majority of the abuse," said Tucker, who was last living in Indiana, in the 2011 trial.

Tucker's 40-year-old memories were called into question in the Summer of 2013, when the former priest tried to get his conviction thrown out. His then-attorneys argued too much time passed between the crime and the trial, but his conviction was upheld.

The same argument was brought up Thursday, when Casey's new attorney again questioned Tucker's testimony and the timeline of abuse.

"In my opinion, the evidence was not good. In my opinion the evidence should've been excluded," said attorney Francis Santore.

Santore filed a "Post Conviction Relief' petition in Sullivan County, which is the first step in their quest for another trial. It now needs to go to a judge for approval.

Santore says this petition is going to be a "big challenge". If granted, the date for the post conviction trial would be in six to eight months.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told 10News in a statement, "We're sad that an admitted predator priest is rubbing salt into the wounds of his victims by making yet another desperate legal move to escape responsibility for his heinous crimes by exploiting legal technicalities."