BishopAccountability.org
	Jury to Begin Deliberating Alleged Priest Pedophile Case NBC 11 [San Francisco CA] March 17, 2005 A San Francisco Superior Court jury is expected to begin deliberating Thursday afternoon in a civil lawsuit in which a San Jose man claims a Roman Catholic priest molested him 30 years ago. Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, claims the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard molested him a number of times in a San Jose parish between 1971 and 1973. The defendant in the case is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, which at the time supervised the parish. The archdiocese has conceded that the molestation took place, but contends church officials were not responsible because they did not know about it. Archdiocese attorney James Goodman told the jury during closing arguments, "This is a very unfortunate case about a man who, as he was entering his teenage years, was unfortunately the victim of unlawful sexual conduct by a Roman Catholic priest." But Goodman contended that the archdiocese had no way to know about the abuse because adults in the community -- including the boy's parents, the nuns who taught him and other priests -- did not know about the molestation. Kavanaugh's attorney, Laurence Drivon, argued that that the archdiocese should have been suspicious because another priest witnessed the boy sitting in Pritchard's lap and also allegedly witnessed similar conduct with two other boys. Drivon said, "I think it's suspicious to most people." In the current trial, the jury will determine whether the archbishop knew or should have known about the molestation. If the jury agrees that the archdiocese is responsible, a second phase of the trial will determine the amount of compensation. Drivon said the case is one of about 200 molestation lawsuits pending in Northern California.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.