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	Commitment Trial Set for Ex-Priest Pedophile could be ordered held in mental facility By Rummana Hussain Chicago Sun-Times January 20, 2010 http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2000076,CST-NWS-priest20.article CHICAGO (IL) -- Defrocked priest Daniel McCormack will stand trial to determine whether he should be civilly committed as a sexually violent person, a Cook County judge ruled Tuesday. McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to fondling five boys while he served as a Roman Catholic priest, "was aware" he was being investigated but continued to target his young victims at St. Agatha Parish and Our Lady of the Westside School, Judge Dennis J. Porter said in finding there was probable cause to go ahead with the trial. McCormack, 41, had been sentenced to five years in prison for five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He was scheduled to be released in late September, but authorities filed a lawsuit arguing that he should remain in a secure mental health center to receive the treatment prosecutors said he never received. At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, mental health professionals testifying on behalf of prosecutors and McCormack's attorneys agreed that McCormack suffers from pedophilia. But they disagreed on whether he would be likely to re-offend upon his release. Prosecutors pointed to older abuse allegations when McCormack was in the seminary and at the Holy Family parish. McCormack was ordered by his superiors to cease contact with children after police questioned him in 2005, but he allegedly did not comply and kept coaching boys basketball and teaching algebra. "His urge is so great, and despite the fact that all eyes are on him, he continues," Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Kelly Navarro said. McCormack will remain incarcerated in a state mental health facility while he awaits trial. Contact: rhussain@suntimes.com
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