The young man, identified by the pseudonym
Billy in a 2011 grand jury report, testified in a landmark priest-abuse
case last year. But in a strategic move, lawyers for the church official
on trial never cross-examined him.
Monsignor William Lynn‘s lawyers doubted
Billy‘s story, but they feared their questions would open the door for
jurors to learn that one of the accused priests had taken a plea deal.
Lynn later became the first U.S. church
official ever convicted over his handling of abuse complaints. He‘s
serving three to six years in prison for endangering Billy‘s safety by
moving the Rev. Edward Avery, a suspected pedophile, to St. Jerome‘s
Parish.
“I thought I did something wrong — and it‘s a
priest,” Billy testified about his 1999 encounter with Avery. “I didn‘t
think anyone would believe me.”
The other two rape suspects will go on trial
on Monday, and Billy‘s credibility — under potentially fierce
cross-examination — may determine the outcome.
The Rev. Charles Engelhardt, an Oblate of
St. Francis, and Bernard Shero, Billy‘s sixth-grade teacher, have
pleaded not guilty to rape, indecent assault, child endangerment and
other charges.
Both Engelhardt, 66, of Wyndmoor and Shero,
49, of Levittown rejected plea offers of 7½ to 15 years in prison, and
face far more time if convicted. A gag order prevents them or their
lawyers from commenting on the case.
In the adult Billy, the jury will see an
accuser who‘s spent much of his life battling drugs, alcohol and arrests
for petty crimes.
By his own count, he‘s been in rehab nearly three
dozen times. He told the jury in Lynn‘s trial that he had started
smoking marijuana at 11, a year after the abuse began. He then moved on
to heroin, painkillers and other drugs.
According to the grand jury report, Billy‘s
abuse began after Engelhardt caught the 10-year-old drinking altar wine
at St. Jerome‘s Parish in northeast Philadelphia.
The priest let him
get drunk, showed him pornography and assaulted him the next week after
Mass, the report stated. Months later, it was Avery‘s turn, the report
said.
Avery twice assaulted the boy after Mass, after forcing him to do a
striptease, according to the report and Billy‘s testimony.
The abuse by Shero allegedly started a year
later, when the teacher offered him a ride home. Shero instead took him
to a park where he raped him, the grand jury said.
Billy has a civil lawsuit pending against
the Philadelphia Archdiocese that‘s on hold until after the criminal
trial.
His civil lawyer has described him as ready, if nervous, to
testify.
“He‘s been through it once, but in a very
different scenario,” lawyer Slade McLaughlin said last fall, as an
earlier trial date approached.