PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph A. Slobodzian, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 1:27 PM
Lawyers for a Philadelphia priest and ex-parochial schoolteacher today began calling character witnesses to convince a Common Pleas Court jury their reputations were inconsistent with men who would rape a 10-year-old altar boy.
It’s not known if the Rev. Charles Engelhardt or Bernard Shero will testify in their defense.
Five witnesses, mostly relatives, were called by lawyer Michael McGovern to testify about Engelhardt’s reputation. Shero’s attorney Burton A. Rose called Shero’s mother and sister to testify before the trial broke for lunch.
Bonita Shero testified that her son was born with congenital cataracts in his eyes and underwent 23 surgeries in the first seven months of his life. Shero said her son is blind in one eye and has limited vision in the other.
Shero said her son excelled in school though he endured nonstop bullying by other children because of his thick glasses and his appearance. She said her son needs to hold papers extremely close to his face to read and is a “close talker” who typically “invades the personal space” of others in conversations.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.