KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
A courts reporter usually can predict with uncanny accuracy that a criminal defendant will plead guilty before trial.
It’s no trick because most of them do.
That’s not a bad thing. Already deliberate, our courts would grind to a standstill if every burglary defendant insisted on going to trial.
But recent developments in the criminal cases against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and its clerics suggest that they’re likely headed for trials in August and September.
Like teachers cleaning their classrooms before summer vacation, lawyers involved in the cases against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese have used the late spring to tidy up legal issues in ways that point to trials rather than pleas or other accommodations.
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