PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
Before he went to trial for a second time, Father Andrew McCormick had a big decision to make.
The district attorney, according to sources, was offering a pretty sweet deal: if Father Andy would plead guilty to the charges, he would have been put on probation for five years but not have to serve any jail time. He would, however, have to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
Father Andy was facing long odds. He was a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy 18 years ago. If convicted on five sex charges, the 59-year-old priest was looking at a jail term of 25 to 50 years, meaning he was going to die in jail.
Father Andy, according to sources, turned down the deal, saying he was innocent and that his fate was in God’s hands. So the priest took a big gamble and elected to go to trial a second time. No wonder Father Andy and his supporters, which included a couple of nuns in full habits, were often seen in the hallway outside Courtroom 1102 in a prayer circle saying the rosary.
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