Attorney for Somerset County priest seeks new trial in molestation case

By Liz Zemba
Tribune-Review
February 01, 2016

http://triblive.com/news/regional/9899084-74/maurizio-priest-trial

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr.

Suspended Somerset County priest Joseph Maurizio has been charged with child sexual exploitation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The attorney for a Somerset County priest convicted in federal court of sexually molesting boys at a Honduran orphanage is seeking a new trial based on newly discovered evidence and allegations that prosecutors withheld evidence favorable to the defense.

The Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., 70, was to be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Johnstown. But the former pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Central City instead will appear before Judge Kim R. Gibson for an evidentiary hearing on motions for a new trial.

Federal prosecutors said Maurizio used a self-run charity based in Johnstown, Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries, to visit the orphanage numerous times between 1999 and 2009, promising candy and cash to boys to watch them shower, have sex or fondle them.

Maurizio did not testify during his trial in September. Through his attorney, Steven Passarello of Altoona, he has maintained his innocence.

Gibson denied an earlier motion seeking a new trial that was based on insufficient evidence but dismissed one of the jury's five guilty verdicts.

Passarello is again seeking a new trial, this time in two motions filed under seal.

Passarello on Monday would not disclose details contained in the motions. Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Western District office, declined to comment.

In the order scheduling Tuesday's hearing, Gibson indicated the sealed motions for a new trial are based on “newly discovered evidence” and an alleged Brady rule violation.

The Brady rule is a constitutional requirement that the government disclose any evidence in its possession that would be “exculpatory to guilt or punishment,” according to Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney and professor at St. Vincent College in Unity.

When Brady violations are proved, criminal defendants are entitled to new trials, Antkowiak said.

“The judge must assess if it could have made a difference in the outcome,” he said. “There's a requirement the material have some substantiality to it that could have affected the outcome.”

The sealed motions are “replete with sensitive information,” according to court documents. Gibson ordered attorneys to “refer to the victims by their first names” only during Tuesday's hearing.

At least 11 people planned to speak on Maurizio's behalf during his sentencing hearing and six sent letters directly to Gibson, Passarello said in court documents.

Two of Maurizio's sisters — neither identified by name in the letters — said the allegations are false. They describe him as a Vietnam War veteran who sold his travel agency to become a priest at 42.

One sister said Maurizio followed “a calling” for missionary work in impoverished Central America, once telling her that he couldn't quit despite her fears for his safety because “small children from age 3 and older were being sold as sex slaves” and others were starving,

“My brother is not the monster the government insists that he is,” one wrote. “I believe ... in his innocence. ... Just because he is a Catholic priest doesn't make him guilty, as a lot of people ... have categorized all priests to be.”

Businessman Daniel G. Thomas expressed similar frustration in his letter seeking leniency at sentencing.

“I believe it is highly unlikely in this day and age for any jury to be impartial when a Roman Catholic priest is charged with sex crimes,” Thomas wrote. “I can't help but believe that this has been a factor in Father Joe's conviction on what even total strangers tell me looked like weak evidence.”

Another letter writer, Marie Roman of Cairnbrook, said she is not convinced of Maurizio's guilt.

“I believe the media has made an abominable circus of the events and circumstances,” Roman wrote.

Parishioners Richard W. Stern, Kenneth and K. Jane Skone, all of Central City, requested leniency.

“Knowing Father Joe and being close friends, we know in our hearts he has been wrongfully accused,” the Skones wrote. “Please, we ask for leniency.”

Maurizio is awaiting sentencing on two counts of engaging or attempting to engage in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and one count each of possession of child pornography and money laundering. He is in the Cambria County Prison.