PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Lawyers for a Philadelphia priest and an ex-parochial-school teacher on Tuesday began a two-pronged defense to convince a Common Pleas Court jury that their clients’ personalities were inconsistent with those of men who would rape a 10-year-old altar boy.
Lawyers for the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero called a series of character witnesses who testified about the pair’s reputation in the community for being peaceful and law-abiding.
Engelhardt’s lawyer, Michael McGovern, also called seven current and former teachers from St. Jerome’s parish school in the Northeast to tell the jury their memories of victim-accuser “Billy Doe.”
It is not known whether either Engelhardt, 66, or Shero, 49, will testify in his own defense.
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