Judge Rejects Motion to Acquit
By JP Eichmiller
The Coloradoan [Fort Collins CO]
March 24, 2007
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240353/1002
Witness testimony concluded and prosecution and defense lawyers provided closing arguments Friday in the trial of former Fort Collins priest Timothy Joseph Evans, accused of sexual misconduct against a minor.
A jury panel of five men and seven women was instructed by District Judge Jolene Blair to choose a foreman and determine a timetable of deliberation. The jurors, who met for about an hour after closing arguments before leaving at 5 p.m., must determine whether Evans committed sexual assault against a child by a person in a position of trust and if he displayed a pattern of abuse against the alleged victim, who claimed to be touched improperly on two occasions in 1998 and 1999 while 17 years old.
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| Timothy Joseph Evans |
"He befriended them, he isolated them, he confused them and he used his position to assault them," said Deputy District Attorney Leah Bishop during closing arguments about Evans' alleged improper conduct toward four witnesses who testified during the four-day trial.
"The only reason Tim Evans was allowed to get so close and spend so much time with (the alleged victims) was because he was a priest. (Evans) has groomed them, and he has gotten them in similar situations - he knew what he was doing," she said.
Evans stared at Bishop with a blank expression while she went on to describe to the jury his alleged patterns and methods of abuse. Evans declined to take the witness stand in his defense.
Defense attorney Joseph Gavaldon asked the jury members to consider the age and emotional state of the alleged victim when considering the charges. During his final statements to the jury, Gavaldon described the government's overwhelming power to search, question and record phone calls in its attempt to gain evidence against Evans.
"This is the first time I have ever had the privilege to represent a priest," Gavaldon said. "But you are not judging him as a priest but as a human being."
Gavaldon criticized the prosecution's use of a "pretext phone call" — a key piece of evidence that had been set up by a Fort Collins police detective in which the alleged victim recorded a 2004 phone conversation with Evans.
During the phone call, Evans was recorded telling the alleged victim, "I loved you foolishly"; "if you felt pressure to have sex by me, I blame myself"; and "I wanted you to feel loved, and I didn't know how else to do it."
Gavaldon said the phone conversation needed to be looked at holistically and not broken into individual statements.
"Alone, the statements in the phone call make (Evans) look guilty," Gavaldon said. "The purpose (of the pretext phone call) was not to get at the truth; it was an investigative technique. The intent was to catch (Evans) at the most vulnerable time."
Before resting the case, Gavaldon continued to try to discredit the alleged victims who claimed Evans improperly touched them. Gavaldon called as witnesses a series of current and former employees of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton — the local Catholic church where Evans worked as head priest — who have questioned the character and honesty of two witnesses against Evans, including the alleged victim from which the charges stem.
A combative and often argumentative Father Lawrence Christiansen, the current administrator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and self-described "best friend" of Evans, appeared Friday morning on behalf of the defense.
Upon cross-examination by Bishop, Christiansen admitted spending every off day with Evans. The witness also testified that he and Evans cook and shop for each other as well as take frequent vacations together.
When asked by Bishop about one of Evans' alleged victims, a former youth minister at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton whose oldest child is Evans' godchild, Christiansen said the accuser annoyed, bothered and upset him because he was spending so much time with Evans.
Two male witnesses testified during the trial that Evans touched their genitals and two others testified of being caressed inappropriately by the former priest while minors. Evans, who worked as head priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton between 1998 and 2002, is scheduled to face similar sexual misconduct charges April 2 in Jefferson County.
Following the conclusion of witness testimonies, Evans' defense team requested from Blair a motion of acquittal on the two charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.
The defense argued that while Evans and the alleged victim, who was a minor at the time, were drinking beer and smoking cigarettes together at the church rectory, Evans was acting as a friend and not a person in a position of trust.
Blair denied the request and will allow the charges to be considered by the jury. Jury deliberation will resume Monday.
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