Court of Massachusetts dismissed the criminal case against him former Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church Theodore McCarrickwho was to stand trial for sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in 1974judging that unable to attend trialsince the experts who examined him found that suffers from dementia.
McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington, is the only current or former cardinal to date in the US to have been accused of sexually abusing a minor. Two separate criminal charges had been brought against him, in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The case in Dedham, Massachusetts, to be heard by Judge Paul McCallum, was the first: the prosecution was brought in July 2021 and related to three counts of sexual harassment and assault.
These two cases were the only ones McCarrick faced, despite lawsuits filed by other men accusing him of sexual abuse decades ago. Because of the peculiarity of Massachusetts law, the statute of limitations was tolled because McCarrick, who was not a permanent resident of the State, left the State.
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests expressed their dismay at the decision. The alleged victim said in a court filing that this will allow McCarrick’s attorneys to state that their client has never been convicted of a crime. “McCarrick goes free and I have nothing,” he wrote.
McCarrick had pleaded not guilty in September 2021. At the hearing on Wednesday (30/8), where participated via video call from the assisted living facility where she lives in Missouri, he showed no emotion. His lawyers declined to comment.
McCarrick was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 2019 after the Vatican, in its investigation against him, found him guilty of sexual crimes with victims of children and adults. A Vatican report, released in November 2020, even states that McCarrick rose to the highest positions in the church despite the rumors circulating about him and that Pope John Paul II promoted him even though he was aware of the accusations.
According to court documents, the alleged victim in the Massachusetts case he claimed that the priest, who was a family friend, began abusing him when he was still a child.
Two experts, one from each side, testified in court that McCarrick is incompetent to stand trial because he suffers from dementia.
Source: News Beast
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