Jury selection in the case of priest assaulting two boys

By Amy Cutler
WTEN
January 31, 2011

http://www.wten.com/Global/story.asp?S=13940020

PITTSFIELD, M.A. - Jury selection occurred in Pittsfield on Monday for the trial of a former Roman Catholic Priest accused of assaulting two boys over two decades ago.

Former Rev. Gary Mercure, 62, served as a minister in Albany and Warren Counties, is on trial in Berkshire County Court on three counts of rape of a child with force as well as one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old.

10 of the 14 jurors were chosen Monday in the case against Mercure.

Mercure is accused of taking two boys to Massachusetts and sexually assaulting them. One case in the fall of 1986 and one case in February of 1989.

The alleged victims are now 34 and 35-years-old.

The Albany diocese relieved Mercure of his religious duties in January 2008, when the allegations of sexual abuse came out against him. He was permanently removed from ministry in August 2008 after the diocese's investigation.

If convicted, Mercure faces life in prison.