Catholic Priest Doesn't Show up in Court As Judge Adjourns Child Porn Case

By Douglass Dowty
Post-Standard
July 8, 2014

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/catholic_priest_doesnt_show_up_in_court_as_judge_adjourns_child_porn_case.html

Robert Ours

Plea negotiations may be underway in the case of a Catholic priest accused of having child porn, but nothing was decided in court today.

Robert Ours, 65, did not appear before County Court Judge Joseph Fahey, who had scheduled today as a possible plea date.

Fahey did not call Ours's case during court, but Senior Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Cali asked afterward when Ours was due back to court with his lawyers, Emil Rossi and Michael Spano.

The judge said both sides were scheduled next for July 22. The case could either proceed toward trial at that time, with lawyers making legal arguments, or could be resolved.

Ours is charged with six counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. He was indicted in May after an investigation based on a tip from the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

The priest retired from leading churches in the Southern Tier and lived in Syracuse.

ddowty@syracuse.com