PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Monday, February 24, 2014
A Philadelphia judge imposed a gag order Monday barring prosecution and defense attorneys from making public comments during the trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast church in 1997.
Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright issued the order after a pretrial motions hearing began dealing with some sensitive evidentiary issues and Bright granted a defense motion to take the hearing behind closed doors.
Jury selection is to begin Tuesday in the trial of the 57-year-old priest on five counts involving sexual assault, child endangerment and corruption of minors in an incident that allegedly occurred when McCormick was a priest at the St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.
McCormick, then pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, was one of 26 Roman Catholic priests suspended in March 2011 for possible inappropriate conduct with children.
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