My uncle, a priest, was setenced to 4 years in prison...

Glad you felt free to vent that.

I have been falsely accused also.I hope that you will be able to continue to love truth in spite of the lies that have been slung at a man whom you respect and love.

Sometimes its harder to forgive those who hurt our loved ones than those who hurt us.

 

maybe your uncle should have upheld the law. getting a parents permission doesnt make giving out alcohol legal. he broke the law

 

Er, duh.

 

maybe im missing something, but i read the blurb on your link and it said he pleaded no contest to sexual assualt. so, im assuming he took some type of deal. if there was no evidence and he was innocent, why didnt he go to trial?

 

Unless, of course, the kid was telling the truth. In that case, the perp got off light.

 

If it came down to a he-said she-said situation I don't think anything would have happened to your uncle. If I were innocent with no evidence against me there is no way I'd take a deal.

 

Don't infer anything from his plea.

A good friend of mine is a criminal lawyer.

He was probably approached with something like this:

If you plead out, you get four years.
If you go to trial, we will seek maximum penalty.

And in light of recent press, a 54 yo priest defendant. Some young dude on the stand, crying his heart out about the priest.

Had the case gone to court, the priest would have lost.

This is very odd.

To what order does your uncle belong?
Do you think your uncle's family was o.k.? Child abuse runs in the family most of the time, according to Dr. Drew. What was your uncle's family like?

Don't answer these quesstions on line.

Take care.

 

i suggest you think about it and try and seperate yourself from your uncle. i dont know what the legal system is like in your state, but if there was really no proof as you say it wouldnt have got this far. here in california, locally ive seen on the news many cases of allegations against priests with arrests made. later the charges are dropped due to a lack of evidence. ive seen more of these lately than convictions.

most people who believe in their innocence will fight and spend everything they have to stay out of jail. your uncle is facing going to place where guards will spread the word he's a sex offender and be in constant danger from the g.p. than when he gets out, he'll have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. id say those are some pretty good reasons to not take a deal.

ive got a neighbor that recently got sent up for molesting children. i thought i knew him too.....

 

Sorry to hear about your uncle. No good deed goes un punished. If it makes you feel any better (which I'm not sure if it will or not) most of the Apostles where in prisoned. As well as many saints and martyrs. Your uncle is a priest, he has faith and love in God - he'll be fine.

I know you don't want to hear this now, but maybe you should pray to God to help you find the strength to forgive that punk. Afer all, your hatred of him is only going to affect you, that person isn't going to know or care about your feelings toward them. After all, it sounds like they where trying to get a big settlement simply b/c they couldn't hack it in college.

LU-MAN!

 

The truth will come out someday. I am sorry to hear about your Great Uncle. Be there for him and his family. You have our support and if you need to PM me...you can do so at anytime.

Your family will be in my prayers

C.

 

when it comes right down to it, he and the "kid" are the only ones who will ever REALLY know what happened or didn't happen. i empathise with you especially because i know what it's like to have that kind of total trust in someone.

i'm curious as to why he felt so compelled to give those kids alcohol? so much so that he'd ask their parent's permission? why would anyone feel the need to do that? why would that even cross an adults mind if he were going on a trip with a bunch of 18 yr olds? also, if the kid was 18 doesn't that make it consentual if they even did have sex. i think there's a lot of details that are being left out here.

sorry you have to deal with this none the less.

 

Okay, this is the part that sounds strange to me. While I do agree that it is against the law to administer alchohol to people under the age of 21, blaming someone for ruining ones life because they gave them a drink once is just stupid. Boy, these people don't make good existentialist. He was over 18 at the time, so he has to be a fully aware of the consequences of the decisions he makes. If he willingly took the alchohol then he's the one who's responsible for it's consequence. If someone offers you herion and you willingly take it and get hooked, it's not the fault of the person who presented it to you, it's your own fault.

Oh, well, we live in a society where people can eat at a fast food joint every day and then have grounds to sue the restuarant for their obesity so I guess not much surprises me nowadays.

"Man, I really would like I new car, but how can I make some quick cash to get it?...........Oh wait, I know, I'll go trespass in someone's yard, then trip in their drive way and break my ankle. Then I'll sue because they didn't take my stupidity into account when they decided not to build a fence around their yard".

 

There clearly is much more to this story than is being told here. Also, if this happened a long time ago, the U.S. Supreme Court just reduced the statute of limitations on this type of crime, and many accused and convicted have been set free.

 

In most States, you cannot be charged with a sexual assault based solely on the testimony of the victim. There has to be some corroborating evidence, be it circumstantial, witnesses, physical, etc. You CERTAINLY could not be convicted of a sex crime with no corroborating evidence, especially in a trial by judge. Ive always been told, if you are charged with a crime and are guilty, go to trial by jury, if you are not guilty, go to trial by judge.....

 

Well..Im sorry about your Uncle. I have great respect for most Priests. As Munji said, Im guessing there is more to the story, probably more than you know. I understand your point, and it is only natural for you to defend a man who has guided you and been a role model to you.
Having said that, if I was accused of a crime that I was not guilty of, and there was no corroborating evidence, there is no way in heck I'd plead to anything....

 

this tread reminds me of the quote "i didn't say it was your fault, i said im blaming it on you"