NEW JERSEY
The Record
WEDNESDAY MAY 22, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
The lawyer representing the Rev. Michael Fugee, the Catholic priest accused of violating a judicial order never to work with children, vigorously defended his client this morning, insisting that he will be acquitted because he “acted in good faith” when he heard confessions of minors at parishes throughout New Jersey.
Fugee’s 2003 conviction on aggravated criminal sexual contact, based on allegations that emerged while he was assistant pastor at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Wyckoff, was overturned on appeal. He later was admitted to a pre-trial probation program.
Michael D’Alessio, who was Fugee’s lawyer when he signed the 2007 agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office barring him from working with kids, did not deny that the priest heard children’s confessions, which prosecutors outlined in seven criminal charges on Monday.
But he said Fugee, who was released on bail from the Bergen County Jail Tuesday night, never was “unsupervised” with children, a point he argued is a crucial element of the agreement.
“Father Fugee is not guilty of this offense,” D’Alessio said in an interview with The Record. “He did not under any circumstances violate a memorandum of understanding. He was very aware of it. He was aware of what he could do and not do.”
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