Hearing in Archdiocese Criminal Case Postponed

By Madeleine Baran
Minnesota Public Radio
July 14, 2015

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/07/14/archdiocese-hearing-postponed

The first hearing in the criminal case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been pushed back several weeks.

The hearing, originally set for this Friday, is now scheduled for Aug. 25.

In an interview last week, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, the temporary administrator of the Twin Cities archdiocese, said he wasn't "exactly sure" how the archdiocese would plead. "Of course, we want to plead the truth," he said, "and then also to be able to figure out what's correct, and I need a little bit more time to do that."

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi charged the archdiocese last month with six gross misdemeanor counts for allegedly failing to protect children from Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest now in prison for sexually abusing children and possessing child pornography.

The criminal charges against the archdiocese carry a maximum fine of $18,000. Court records did not provide a reason for the scheduling change.