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  Officer Testifies in Md. Ex-Priest's Trial

By Brian Witte
Herald-Tribune [Baltimore MD]
February 14, 2005

BALTIMORE The detective who first investigated sexual abuse claims against a now-defrocked priest testified Monday that he had reason to believe the accuser and found evidence others also had been victimized.

"I found him to be credible," Lt. Frederick Roussey said, describing his interview with Dontee Stokes after being assigned the case in August 1993.

Former priest Maurice Blackwell, who was shot and wounded by Stokes three years ago, is charged with four counts of child sex abuse. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison. Stokes served home detention for attacking Blackwell.

On Friday, Stokes, 29, vividly described the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of Blackwell, repeatedly telling jurors, "Mr. Blackwell did what I said he did to me."

His credibility has emerged as a key point in the trial. Stokes was questioned in detail Friday by defense attorney Kenneth Ravenell, who argued that the Baltimore barber was a deeply disturbed young man who has trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality. Ravenell also suggested that Stokes made up the allegations as a way of dealing with his own sexual orientation crisis.

While Stokes reported the alleged abuse in 1993, when he was 17, prosecutors declined to bring charges at that time.

But Roussey told jurors on Monday he not only believed Stokes after interviewing him, he also uncovered information about other victims during his investigation of Blackwell.

That testimony drew an objection from Ravenell, and Judge Stuart Berger ordered testimony about other possible victims stricken from the record.

Stokes' mother, Tamara Morrison, and Stokes' aunt, Thomasine Wells, were among the other witnesses expected to testify for the prosecution.

Once a highly regarded pastor, Blackwell is accused of abusing Stokes between 1989 and 1992. Stokes testified that he did not report the abuse earlier because he didn't want Blackwell to be removed, because of his stature in the community.

Blackwell was returned to the church after receiving psychological counseling. The priest was stripped of his church authority in 1998, after acknowledging having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy in the early 1970s. Blackwell was defrocked by the Vatican in October.

 
 

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