Sunday, October 28, 2007

Lawyer a no-show in ex-priest's sentencing

The sentencing of her son's abuser delayed once again, the mother of a 6-year-old boy molested by a former Catholic priest did little to conceal her outrage Friday.

"This has been a horror, waiting for when it's going to happen," the mother, whose identity is being withheld because of the nature of the crime, said at the Suffolk County Criminal Courthouse Friday.

In 2004, the former priest, Barry Ryan, confessed to molesting the boy, but escaped incarcertation when he told a judge he was dying of liver cancer.

Ryan, 59, had been suspended from the priesthood nine years earlier.

On Friday, after Ryan was brought to the courthouse following extradition from Missouri, his attorney failed to show by his side.

Prosecutors brought Ryan back to Long Island on a warrant after they suggested to the judge that the one-time cleric was contriving to avoid incarceration.

Judge Ralph Gazillo rescheduled the sentencing for Monday.

Prosecutors indicated that Ryan would be sent to prison for two years.

"He got out of jail free, with a sick card," said the mother's attorney, Melanie Little of Uniondale.

Ryan, who is in police custody, was not summoned into the courtroom.

Outside the courtroom, the mother told reporters that he son, now 9, is "your regular, normal, hyper little boy."

A call to Joseph Ostrowsky, Ryan's lawyer, wasn't immediately returned.
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