BishopAccountability.org
	Child Rapist Appeals Ruling on Plea Deal The Examiner August 31, 2010 http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/ap/child-rapist-appeals-ruling-on-plea-deal-101877678.html A former Catholic school teacher convicted of raping one of his students in the mid-1970s has filed an appeal that he hopes will improve his chances of being released from prison. A federal judge has ruled that John Merzbacher had ineffective counsel because his attorneys didn't give him a chance to accept a 10-year plea deal before his 1995 trial. Judge Andre Davis ordered that Merzbacher should be offered the plea deal again — but he said a judge "must express a willingness" to go along with the deal. Merzbacher's appeal seeks to strike down that caveat in Davis' ruling. He says in court papers that it's not likely that a judge "would approve such a plea agreement today." Merzbacher was accused of molesting more than a dozen children, but those charges were dropped when he was convicted and sentenced to four life terms.
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