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	Las Vegas Priest Pleads Not Guilty in Attempted Murder, Sex Case Associated Press, carried in KESQ March 15, 2007 http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=6232330&nav=9qrx Las Vegas — A Roman Catholic priest pleaded not guilty today to charges he beat and sexually assaulted a female soloist at a southern Nevada parish office. No bail was set for Father George Chaanine -- who's been jailed since his arrest February first near Phoenix after nearly a week on the run. A court hearing master accepted Chaanine's plea and set a date next Thursday for a Clark County District Court judge to schedule trial and consider bail. Chaanine faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of seven felony charges including attempted murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and battery. His accuser is a 54-year-old former Las Vegas Strip singer-turned-church employee. She and her daughter say Chaanine seemed obsessed with wooing her before the January 26th attack. The woman says he hit her in the head several times with a wine bottle, groped and choked her until she began praying and he suddenly stopped. Chaanine's lawyers say they think the relationship was a two-way street. The Diocese of Las Vegas has suspended Chaanine with pay from his role as a church administrator.
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