Missouri: Bishop Will Face Judge, Not Jury

By Laurie Goodstein
New York Times
September 6, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/missouri-bishop-will-face-judge-not-jury.html?_r=1

The trial of Bishop Robert W. Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on charges of failure to report suspected child abuse has been moved up to Thursday and will be decided by a judge, not a jury. The change was made public in a court filing on Wednesday, and avoids a lengthy public trial that was set to start Sept. 24. Bishop Finn is the first Roman Catholic prelate in the country to be indicted in the sexual abuse scandals. He and the diocese each face two misdemeanor counts of failing to report hundreds of lewd photographs of young girls on a laptop computer belonging to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan. Father Ratigan pleaded guilty to pornography charges in August.