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Getting Out : Seeking Justice

GUILTY II

from Albatross - Thursday, February 17, 2005
accessed 1525 times

Defrocked priest guilty of molesting boy who later shot him





BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- A defrocked priest was found guilty Thursday of molesting a former altar boy who shot and wounded him on a city street a decade later.

Jurors found that Maurice Blackwell, 58, who did not testify, molested Dontee Stokes, 29, when Blackwell was pastor of St. Edward, a Roman Catholic church in West Baltimore.

The jury convicted Blackwell of three of four counts, finding he abused Stokes in 1990, 1991 and 1992 but acquitting him of a charge relating to an alleged incident in 1989, when Stokes was 13.

Sentencing was scheduled for April 15. He could face up to 45 years in prison.

After the verdict, Stokes said he felt vindicated.

"Mr. Blackwell was at no point on trial. It was all about me," he said. "The world can see that I'm not a perfect person, but I stand here right and he stands wrong."

Stokes had served home detention on a gun charge related to the shooting.

Blackwell declined to comment. Defense attorney Kenneth Ravenell said he felt jurors reached their decision on evidence they should not have heard, referring to detectives' references to "other victims," which the judge ordered stricken from the record.

"It's impossible for people to wipe clear what they've already heard," Ravenell said. He said he planned to seek a retrial and if that failed, to appeal that decision.

On Wednesday, the jurors deliberated five hours without reaching a verdict, sending a note to the judge saying they were unable to agree and asking how to proceed.

Judge Stuart Berger read them standardized instructions Thursday morning on the importance of a unanimous verdict. They then deliberated about a half-hour more before reaching their verdicts.

In closing arguments Wednesday, the prosecution called Stokes a vulnerable victim who was preyed upon by a trusted father figure. But Ravenell portrayed Stokes as a disturbed young man who made up the allegations to deal with a sexual identity crisis.

"There was absolutely no credibility to anything Dontee Stokes has told you," Ravenell said.

Stokes admitted in court that he has had trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality at times, but firmly maintained he was sexually abused by Blackwell.

Prosecutor Jo Anne Stanton called the allegations that Stokes was concealing homosexual tendencies a "smoke screen."

Stokes had made accusations against Blackwell in 1993, but Blackwell denied the allegations and no other alleged victims came forward at the time. Blackwell received psychological treatment and returned to his parish, although he was barred from working with children and young adults.

In May 2002, in the midst of the national scandal involving Catholic priests, Stokes shot Blackwell three times. In the aftermath, Baltimore prosecutors reviewed Stokes' old allegations and charged Blackwell with abuse.

Stokes, who testified he had an "out-of-body experience" at the time of the shooting, was acquitted of attempted murder in December 2002 but was convicted on gun charges. He served 18 months on home detention.

Blackwell was stripped of his church authority after acknowledging he had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy in the early 1970s. The Vatican defrocked him in October.

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from Newss
Friday, February 18, 2005 - 16:09

(Agree/Disagree?)
ASHINGTON, Feb. 18 - Auditors for the Roman Catholic Church reported today that 1,092 new allegations of sexual abuse had been filed against 756 priests, as part of a second annual survey of the church's procedures for handling and preventing such abuse by clergy and employees.





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Adults who had been abused as children, most of them about 30 years ago, made the overwhelming majority of new allegations, said Dr. Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the conference's Office of Child and Youth Protection.
(reply to this comment)

from
Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 15:00

(Agree/Disagree?)
What age was the victim at the time the priest was convicted? 29?? Ring any bells? Our abusers are taunting us "why didn't you go to the law already, blablabla" but we are not alone.
(reply to this comment)
from Haunted
Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 13:52

(Agree/Disagree?)

Interesting statement (re: how the victim felt that HE was the one on trial). I often feel that this is exactly what we must face when we come forward with our stories.

Far too often, it is our lives, actions and reputations that are brought to trial rather than the lives, actions and reputations of our abusers.

Kudos to this poor man, and may we get the justice (court-ordered) that he has finally gotten.
(reply to this comment)

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