PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015
By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
District Attorney Seth Williams has decided not to retry Father Andrew McCormick a third time for the alleged attempted rape of a former 10-year-old altar boy.
In a brief appearance today before Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp tersely announced that the D.A. would not retry the case.
Twice in the last 14 months, the district attorney had brought the case to trial. And twice the end result was a mistrial after both juries wound up hopelessly deadlocked.
At today’s brief hearing, Trevan Borum, Father Andy’s defense lawyer, asked the judge to lift a gag order in the case. But even though there’s no future jury pool to worry about tainting, the judge told Kemp and Borum that she wanted her gag order to remain in efffect until May 16th. Later the judge changed her mind and announced she would rule Monday on Borum’s motion to lift the gag order.
In the absence of official comment, one loyal member of the “Friends of Father Andy” support group said the D.A.’s decision to finally give up was a “long time coming, especially when there is no evidence.”
In a last desperate move while the jury was still deliberating, ADA Kemp had offered Father Andy a sweetheart deal. If the priest would plead guilty to a single charge, corrupting the morals of a minor, he would receive no jail time, four years probation, and not even have to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
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.