PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA-TV (CBS affiliate, Ch. 2)
March 9, 2020
By Andy Sheehan
After being convicted by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Mark Tranquilli in December 2019, a retired priest accused of sexually abusing a boy in Munhall almost two decades ago will be getting a new trial.
On Monday, Judge Anthony Mariani overturned the conviction handed down by Tranqulli that Hugh Lang molested an 11-year-old back in 2001.
Mariani ruled that Tranquilli allowed evidence that should have been inadmissible and convicted Lang on a felony charge that was past the statute of limitations.
“I am ordering a new trial,” Mariani said from the bench. “I do not believe this was a fair trial.”
Tranquilli was reassigned to administrative duties last month after KDKA first reported he allegedly referred to a black woman juror as “Aunt Jemima”.
President Judge Kim Berkley Clark has temporarily removed Tranquilli from the bench and reassigned Lang’s case to Mariani for sentencing. But now other Tranqulli rulings are also in doubt.
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.