PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
Father Andy’s defense lawyer put the district attorney on trial today, arguing that in order to put a Catholic priest in jail, the D.A. had decided that the ends justified the means.
Trevan Borum, Father Andy’s lawyer, ripped the D.A.’s office for not doing their homework. Instead of old-fashioned detective work, Borum said, the D.A. relied on a blatant appeal to emotion.
“Do not decide this case based on sympathy,” Borum told the jury. He asked the jury to recall how many times he had objected to questions from the prosecutor “designed to evoke an emotional response” from a witness.
Borum asked the jury to recall how many times they had to leave the courtroom because a witness started sobbing after being asked an “improper question” by the prosecutor.
The capper came when Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp did her closing and seemed to be going out of her way to prove Borum’s point. Only a guilty verdict, she told the jury of ten women and two men, would take away the alleged victim’s pain. Only a guilty verdict, she said, would assuage the guilt of the victim’s mother and father, who wouldn’t let the victim quit being an altar boy. And what about the alleged victim’s cousin, Kemp asked. How do you think she feels? When the cousin was 11 years old, Kemp said, the altar boy told her about the abuse. Eighteen years later, Kemp said, the cousin still feels guilty about not telling anybody.
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