PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10
Prosecutors plan to appeal a judge’s decision to dismiss the most serious sexual assault charges against a Philadelphia priest after the accuser described the alleged 1997 encounter at a preliminary hearing Thursday.
The Rev. Andrew McCormick, 56, remains on leave from the church, with a misdemeanor trial set for October.
But Philadelphia prosecutors, who recently prosecuted a landmark case over the church’s handling of abuse complaints, vow to have the felony charges against McCormick restored.
The accuser’s credibility was not at issue at the preliminary hearing, but the judge found the acts described did not meet the legal definition of sexual assault and deviant intercourse.
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