KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star
Evidence that led to a Catholic priest’s child pornography conviction should not be allowed in the trial of the diocese and the bishop who supervised him, defense attorneys argue in a pretrial motion.
Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are scheduled for trial starting Sept. 24 in Jackson County on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse by the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.
In their pre-trial motion, attorneys for Finn and the diocese ask a judge to exclude eight pieces of evidence they believe prosecutors intend to introduce at trial, including the contents of Ratigan’s computer hard-drive that was turned over to the diocese in December 2010 and to police in May 2011.
The defense maintains that neither Finn nor another high diocesan official saw or reviewed the hard-drive’s contents. They also seek the exclusion of images found in Ratigan’s possession about the time of his arrest. Again, they maintain that those items were never seen by the bishop or other diocesan officials.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.