Some Describe Priest As Cold and Emotionless during the Civil Trial
By Alan Gustafson
Statesman Journal [Portland OR]
May 18, 2007
http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070518/NEWS/705180327
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PDF | Deposition of Robert Paul PDF | Deposition of Norman Klettke PDF | Deposition of Randy Sloan |
Blunt comments emerged Thursday during Statesman Journal interviews with six of the 12 jurors who decided the sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem.
Ten of the 12 jurors found on Wednesday that Sprauer sexually abused Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem and Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville while the Catholic priest served as chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.
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At the time, Paul and Sloan were teenage inmates at the state-run reform school in Woodburn. Sprauer abused each boy three times, according to the verdict.
By law, it's too late for any criminal investigation or prosecution of the sex-abuse charges against Sprauer. But Oregon law allows victims of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits as long as three years after discovering the impact of abuse on their lives. That can mean years, or decades, later.
Jurors in the Portland civil case were free to talk about it Thursday after the verdict was formally accepted by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Marshall Amiton.
All six jurors interviewed by the newspaper said they found Paul and Sloan more believable than Sprauer, who adamantly maintained that the abuse never happened.
"His denials weren't as convincing as the plaintiffs' accusations," said Jennifer Trilby Marlin.
Pence put it this way: "I tried to remain neutral and give him the benefit of the doubt. In the end, I really did not believe him."
Jurors spent about nine hours evaluating the case on Tuesday and Wednesday before delivering their verdict.
"We diligently went through all of the evidence presented to us and made a fair decision," Steve Lamere said. "I felt like we made the right decision."
Another juror, Teresa Greenberg, described the trial and verdict-deliberation process as "a very emotional experience."
In parting words to the jury, Judge Amiton called the case "one of the most difficult I've seen in my 23 years" of legal experience.
Sloan, Paul and Klettke were the first of 15 former MacLaren inmates to bring to trial their accusations against Sprauer, a longtime Salem priest now assigned to St. Joseph parish in downtown Salem.
Besides the three plaintiffs, five other former MacLaren inmates testified during the Portland trial. All eight testified that Sprauer sexually abused them at MacLaren in the 1970s.
Attorneys for Sprauer and the state accused the ex-convicts of concocting bogus allegations as part of a scam.
The conspiracy theory didn't add up for some jurors.
"I saw it more as the priest was covering up, and his buddies came to cover his butt," Krehbiel said, referring to priests and former priests who testified in Sprauer's defense.
Witness-stand accounts given by Sprauer's accusers, who told of shame and suffering caused by decades-old sex abuse, clearly had an impact on jurors.
"They were visibly, convincingly, upset," Marlin said.
In contrast, some jurors were put off by Sprauer's stoic demeanor throughout the trial.
"At the start of the trial, he seemed extremely cold and emotionless," Marlin said.
"All he did was adjust himself in his seat and smile," Krehbiel said. "He showed no emotion, no remorse."
The jury ruled that Sprauer did not sexually abuse a third plaintiff -- Norman Klettke Jr.
Though some jurors came to believe that Klettke also was molested at MacLaren, they said his account wasn't strong enough to pass muster. The biggest problem: Klettke said Sprauer molested him in 1978, more than three years after the priest left MacLaren.
"The dates were extremely farfetched for Klettke," Pence said. "I really wish we could have done more for him."
Pence, 18, described her jury stint as unsettling. Trial testimony included graphic accounts of oral sex and mutual masturbation.
"Probably the most difficult thing for me was just the content," she said. "Basically just sitting in court all day and hearing profanity. You couldn't help but go home and think about it. It will take some time for me to put it aside in my mind."
agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
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