PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
An unusual federal trial gets underway today in Johnstown as the Justice Department squares off with a suspended Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing orphans in Honduras between 2004 and 2009.
The government says the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, is a serial child molester and will present three Honduran men who say they were assaulted by Father Maurizio when they were children during his visits there under the guise of performing charity work. He is now in federal custody.
His lawyer, Steven Passarello of Altoona, declined to comment on his trial strategy but in court papers has indicated he will attack the credibility of the witnesses and the conclusions of a psychologist who will testify for the government as an expert on child abuse.
Both sides have won a few battles in pretrial sparring.
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