Maryland Jury Convicts Former Catholic Priest of Abusing a 10-Year-Old Student in the 1990s

A Baltimore County jury has convicted a former Catholic priest of one count of child abuse and four counts of second-degree sex offenses involving a boy who was 10 years old and attending a parish school in Catonsville more than three decades ago, Fox Baltimore (WBFF) reported. The verdict came after a four-day trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court, and the state dropped the remaining charges, according to the station.

Prosecutors alleged the former priest groomed the boy in 1994 and used religious instruction and warnings about eternal damnation to pressure him into sexual acts in the church rectory following religious education classes, Fox Baltimore reported. The timeline of the allegations was a central dispute at trial: according to the station, the defense argued that the former student's accounts placed the alleged abuse before the priest arrived at the parish in July 1994, while prosecutors contended that a roughly six-month overlap between the two at the school and parish gave him the opportunity.

Fox Baltimore reported that the defense urged jurors to build their own timeline from the testimony and argued the inconsistencies amounted to reasonable doubt. The jury rejected that argument and returned guilty verdicts on five counts. The station's report did not indicate a sentencing date.