Friars Appear in Court

We Are Central PA
June 15, 2017

http://www.wearecentralpa.com/news/friars-appear-in-court/741236541

Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pa. - Giles Schinelli, Robert D'Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli appeared in court Wednesday morning for pretrial arguments. The three face conspiracy and child endangerment charges.

Lawyers for the three Friars moved to have the dispute over what their duty entailed as Minister Provisional determined by the judge and not by jury. They say the prosecution's definition of their duty is too generalized.

The also argued that there is no evidence to suggest that the Friars engaged in a conspiracy. They say there is no documentation of an agreement between them to conspire. The prosecution argued that information about allegations regarding Brother Stephen Baker was available to all three of them and that their course of action indicates a conspiracy.

The defense claims that only Schinelli knew of the allegation against Baker from 1988 that was discovered in 1992. They say that this was never discussed with D'Aversa nor Criscitelli. They say that the evidence suggests that Schinelli took appropriate follow-up action on the allegations and found no further evidence to suggest any wrongdoing by Baker. It's said that Schinelli then had Baker see a doctor and it was found that there was nothing to suggest that Baker was a pedophile.

In the prosecution's argument, they say that the complete report from that doctor said that there was not enough information to make a determination and that it would be up to the church administration to make a decision. They said the only information the doctor could act on was a self-report from Baker himself.

The prosecution claims that with knowledge of the allegations against Baker, the decisions made by Schinelli, Criscitelli and D'Aversa to appoint Baker to Bishop McCourt, as director of vocations, and as a clerk at Logan Valley Mall put children in danger and led to children being abused.

The defense says that D'Aversa acted to limit and remove Baker from access to children as well as threatening Baker that if he didn't seek treatment that he would be removed from the church.

The defense also moved to have the location of the trial changed. They believe that the knowledge of this case in the community and the impact of social media make it difficult to avoid prejudice when picking the jury. The prosecution believes that it would be the same regardless of where the trial is located as similar cases have been seen across the state.

The ruling on these motions will be up to Judge Jolene Kopriva. There is no timetable at this point as to when a ruling will be made.