MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: ABBY SIMONS , Star Tribune Updated: November 6, 2013
The ruling means the Rev. Christopher Wenthe will not receive a new trial for having sex with a
A Roman Catholic priest convicted of a felony for his relationship with a female parishioner 10 years ago does not deserve a new trial, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, upholding a state law that deems it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they’re advising on spiritual matters.
In a two-part ruling, the court ruled 4-1 that the state’s clergy sexual conduct statute is constitutional, and that religion was not excessively entangled in the Rev. Christopher Wenthe’s 2011 criminal sexual conduct conviction.The ruling reverses a Minnesota Court of Appeals order last year that granted Wenthe a new trial, when they found that the religious evidence used against him violated his constitutional rights under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which holds that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Justice Alan Page dissented on both counts, reasoning that the state law is unconstitutional. Justices Christopher Dietzen and Wilhelmina Wright did not take part in the ruling.
Wenthe was convicted in Ramsey County of third-degree criminal sexual conduct “during the course of a meeting” for a sex act that occurred with a 21-year-old woman in the rectory of Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul in 2003. Wenthe did not dispute that the two had an 18-month relationship, but denied that it occurred while he was providing spiritual aid and comfort. Wenthe had served eight months of a 57-month sentence when he was granted a new trial. Prosecutors appealed and the high court heard arguments this summer.
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