WISCONSIN
WBEZ

Chip Mitchell | Feb. 15, 2012

A court-approved agreement that classifies a defiant former Chicago priest as “sexually violent” could lead to his release from a Wisconsin treatment facility as early as November.

Norbert Maday, convicted in 1994 of sexually assaulting Chicago-area children, avoided a Wisconsin jury trial that would have begun Tuesday. Under the deal, prosecutors in Winnebago County won’t contest a supervised release of Maday, 73, if a state evaluation determines the defrocked priest is ready for that freedom. The agreement, approved by Circuit Court Judge Daniel J. Bissett, requires the evaluation to take place in nine months. If Maday remains in custody from there, re-evaluations will occur annually.

Kevin Greene, the case’s special prosecutor, said his team also wanted to avoid a jury trial.

“If you lose, he walks away with less supervision,” said Greene, an assistant district attorney in Brown County. The agreement…