Retired Priest Guilty Of Molestation

Jury Rules Calif. Catholic Priest Committed Abuse Working As Chaplain

(AP) 
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a statement after the verdict. "Father Michael Wempe's conviction cannot restore the trust and innocence stolen from his victims, but hopefully this verdict may provide them some measure of justice and comfort."

Hicks said he believes Wempe is capable of committing similar crimes again. "The defendant, given the opportunity, will molest again," he said. "The defendant is somebody who has not learned."

Jayson B. and his older brother were in the front row of the courtroom. Beyond clenched jaws, they showed no reaction when the verdict was read.

Jurors told the judge there was no chance of breaking their deadlock on four counts.

On two lewd conduct charges, the jury was split seven guilty, five not guilty. On a third lewd conduct charge, it was 11 not guilty, 1 guilty. On a sexual abuse act, jurors said two were undecided, three voted not guilty and seven voted guilty.

"This was a very thoughtful, very considerate jury," Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe said.

The only verdict jurors reached involved an allegation of oral copulation committed in a car on an unspecified date between 1993 and 1995 at a location near the boy's home.

The defense attacked Jayson's descriptions of the car and the chaplain's office. The accuser said he vividly recalled the priest driving a purple car from 1991 to 1995, but testimony from a car leasing agent showed the priest did not lease that car until 1995.

Jurors asked for that testimony to be re-read and then agreed on the only charge that mentioned 1995.

The trial stretched over four weeks and played out against the backdrop of an ongoing scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

It was the testimony of the older victims that rocked the courtroom.

Some of them cried as they told of abuse which damaged them for life, leading to drug addiction, alcoholism and dropping out of school.

Wempe, seated across the courtroom, cried with them.

"This guy is so sick," snapped one victim. Asked how he knew the priest, the 39-year-old man replied, "From a nightmare."