Prosecutors Refile Charges against Priest

By Mensah M. Dean
Philadelphia Daily News
August 22, 2012

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120822_Prosecutors_refile_charges_against_priest.html

It took less than a week for the District Attorney's Office to make good on a promise to refile felony charges against the latest Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting a child.

The refiled charges against Father Andrew McCormick, 56, were received Tuesday by the Court of Common Pleas.

Municipal Judge Karen Yvette Simmons held McCormick for trial on Aug. 16 on four misdemeanor charges related to an alleged incident with a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 when he was a priest assigned to St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

But Simmons caught the D.A.'s Office off guard when she dismissed the most serious felony charges: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, which is oral sex with a child under age 13; sexual assault, oral sex without the victim's consent; and statutory sexual assault, oral sex with a child under age 16 when the defendant is more than four years older.

During the hearing, Assistant District Attorney John P. O'Neill argued that any contact between McCormick's penis and the former altar boy's lips or teeth - however slight - warranted felony charges.

Defense attorney William J. Brennan argued that no penetration took place. His client maintains his innocence, he said, and suggested that the former altar boy's story was "opportunistic" and came to light only after other former priests and former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had been put on trial for similar crimes.

Because another judge will determine if McCormick will stand trial on the re-filed charges, his Oct. 18 trial on the four misdemeanors will be delayed, according to the prosecution's motion.

The lesser charges that McCormick faces are: indecent assault without consent of other, child endangerment, corruption of a minor and indecent exposure.

McCormick, who is free on bail, was placed on leave in March by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from Sacred Heart Parish in Swedesburg, Montgomery County.

Contact: deanm@phillynews.com