FALL RIVER (MA)
Cape Cod Times [Hyannis MA]
June 15, 2024
By Walker Armstrong
Following closing statements made by the defense and prosecution Friday in the trial of Mark Hession, the former Cape Cod priest accused of rape, court was adjourned without the jury reaching a verdict.
The jury was instructed by Barnstable Superior Court Judge Mark C. Gildea to return to court Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. to continue deliberations.
Hession, who served as the parish priest of Our Lady of Victory in Centerville from 2000 to 2014, faces two counts of rape alleged to have occurred between 2005 and 2008, and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 alleged to have taken place in 2002. He pleaded not guilty to all charges since his January 2021 indictment.
Defense: ‘Rewriting history’
The defense team, led by attorneys Frank C. Corso and Paolo G. Corso, rested their case on Thursday without calling Hession to the stand. Paolo Corso said Friday morning the prosecution’s case against Hession was based on faulty testimony from an uncredible witness.
“It is about rewriting history, it is revision history at its finest,” Corso said, addressing the jury. “The truth is, this did not happen, the truth is these allegations are false, and the truth is Mr. Hession is innocent.”
During the defense’s testimony, four witnesses who had worked at Our Lady of Victory testified that they never saw Hession engage in inappropriate behavior with the accuser. One witness, John Murray, a Catholic priest on Nantucket, responded “absolutely not” when asked if his friendship with Hession would interfere with his duty to report any improper behavior.
Prosecutor: ‘A power dynamic’
Prosecuting the case, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Halprin Isaacs outlined the allegations Friday, underscoring the case is about sexual abuse and a dynamic that functioned on Hession abusing his position of power.Get the Cape Confessions newsletter in your inbox.
“For the defendant, that child (the accuser) was a vulnerable child with minimal supervision, who he had access to within the very walls of his own church,” Isaacs said during her closing remarks. “This was a power dynamic, this was manipulation, and this was calculated. The defendant tested and pushed every boundary to see how far he could get.”
Hession was ordained in 1984 and served at 12 different institutions in the Cape Cod and Fall River areas. In 2009, he delivered the homily at the funeral for U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Boston.
He has been listed on a “publicly accused” list by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River since 2021. This list includes religious leaders publicly named in media reports and by advocacy groups for alleged sexual abuse of minors.
Hession has been on leave from active ministry since 2019 due to conduct deemed inconsistent with priestly standards, following complaints of inappropriate communications by parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk.