Church Sex Abuse Trial under Way in Burlington, Burlington Free Press [Burlington VT], June 20, 2007

Church Sex Abuse Trial under Way in Burlington

Burlington Free Press [Burlington VT]
June 20, 2007

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/NEWS01/70620018/0/NEWS05

The lawyer for a Virginia man who claims he was molested by a priest as a teenager in 1977 told a Chittenden Superior Court jury he will be seeking damages "well into the seven figures" as the trial in the case got under way today.

Jerome O'Neill said the diocese looked the other way when confronted with allegations that priests were molesting children and that his client, James Turner, has struggled with the consequences of being abused by a priest when he was 16.

James Turner (center) is comforted by his wife Denise during a break in the first day of a trail in superior court in Burlington in a lawsuit brought by Turner against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington alleging he was molested by former priest Alfred Willis in 1977.
Photo by Glenn Russell

"The diocese acted in complete disregard for the life of Jim Turner and who knows how many other children," attorney Jerome O'Neill told jurors during his opening remarks. "This action was intentional and deliberate."

Turner claims he was molested by Alfred Willis, a Vermont diocesan priest, at a Latham, N.Y., motel in June of 1977 and that Willis attempted to molest him a second time three months later.

Thomas McCormick, a diocesan attorney, said in his opening statement that the diocese had no evidence Willis could not be trusted around children and that the jury should not be swayed by O'Neill's references to later sexual misconduct by Willis or other priests.

"The Turner case is not like those other cases," McCormick said.

Turner also said there were questions about the truth of Turner's claims and that he told an ex-girlfriend he was filing a lawsuit against the diocese to enrich himself.

This Week in Photos: The Rev. Wendell Searles, former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, is sworn in to testify Wednesday on the first day of a trial in Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington. A lawsuit brought by James Turner of Virginia against the diocese alleges he was molested by former priest Alfred Willis in 1977.
Photo by Glenn Russell