Altar Boy

PROSECUTORS will get another opportunity to try the Rev. James J. Brennan, 49, a Roman Catholic priest charged with attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996 and related offenses. A mistrial was declared in June after the District Attorney's Office was unable to persuade a jury to reach a unanimous verdict that Brennan was guilty. Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Coleman met Wednesday with Assistant District Attorneys Patrick Blessington and Mark Cipoletti and defense attorneys William J. Brennan Jr. and Richard J. Fuschino Jr. before setting March 6 as the new trial date.

A Philadelphia judge this morning set March 6 for the retrial of Rev. James J. Brennan, the Roman Catholic priest charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Common Pleas Court Judge Robert P. Coleman met briefly with Assistant District Attorneys Patrick Blessington and Mark Cipolletti and Brennan and defense lawyers William J. Brennan Jr. and Richard J. Fuschino Jr. before setting the trial date. Coleman also set March 4 for a pretrial conference. Father Brennan, 49, was tried earlier this year with Msgr.

IT TOOK less than a week for the District Attorney's Office to make good on a promise to refile felony charges against the latest Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting a child. The refiled charges against the Rev. Andrew McCormick, 56, were received Tuesday by the Court of Common Pleas. Municipal Judge Karen Yvette Simmons held McCormick for trial last Thursday on four misdemeanor charges related to an alleged incident with a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 when he was a priest assigned to St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

A municipal judge stunned Philadelphia prosecutors on Thursday when she threw out the most serious charges against a Roman Catholic pastor accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Philadelphia altar boy in 1997. Judge Karen Simmons issued her ruling after the alleged victim testified that the Rev. Andrew McCormick had led him to his rectory bedroom in the Bridesburg section one evening in 1997, stripped to his boxers, straddled him, and tried to force him to perform oral sex. McCormick's lawyer, William J. Brennan, argued that the allegations did not justify charges of felony sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse because there was "absolutely no evidence" of clear penetration.

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn on Wednesday asked an appeals court to do what his trial judge would not: free the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official on bail while he fights his child-endangerment conviction. In a motion filed in Superior Court, the lawyers renewed their claims that the 61-year-old cleric poses no public danger or flight risk, has deep local roots, and a better-than-average chance to win his appeal. "It would be a manifest injustice for Appellant Lynn to serve much, if not all, of his prison term, where there is a substantial possibility of reversal," lawyers Thomas Bergstrom, Allison Khaskelis and Alan Tauber wrote in their brief.

A PHILADELPHIA judge on Monday denied bail to Monsignor William Lynn, the Catholic priest who was sentenced last month to serve three to six years in state prison for his role in enabling another priest to sexually abuse an altar boy. After a brief hearing, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Lynn, 61, had no constitutional right to receive bail while his case is being appealed. Lynn, who served as secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, was not at the hearing.

Arrested Thursday and charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy, the Rev. Andrew McCormick turned to a lawyer who knows the terrain - William J. Brennan Jr., just one month off representing another priest in the recent Philadelphia Catholic clergy-sex-abuse trial. Brennan confirmed Monday that he had been hired to represent McCormick, 56, who is charged with molesting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 while he served at St. John Cantius parish in Bridesburg. McCormick, arrested at his parents' home in Pottstown, was released Friday night after posting $150,000 bail.

Arrested Thursday and charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy, the Rev. Andrew McCormick turned to a lawyer who knew the terrain - William J. Brennan Jr., just one month off of representing another priest in the recent Philadelphia Catholic clergy sex-abuse trial. Brennan on Monday confirmed that he had been hired to represent McCormick, 56, charged with molesting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 while he served at St. John Cantius parish in Bridesburg. McCormick, arrested Thursday night at his parents' home in Pottstown, was released Friday night after posting the required 10 percent of his $150,000 bail.