TENNESSEE
Times-News
March 27th, 2014 8:30 pm by MATTHEW LANE
KINGSPORT — A former Kingsport priest, convicted of sexually abusing an alter boy in the 1970s, is attempting to appeal his conviction to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
William Casey, previously of Greeneville, was convicted in Sullivan County Criminal Court in 2011 of first-degree sexual misconduct and two counts of aggravated rape. Prosecutors charged Casey sexually abused an altar boy shortly after becoming a priest at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in the 1970s.
Casey received a 35-year prison sentence.
During trial, the victim, now in his mid-40s, testified Casey raped him twice — once when he was 13 and once when he was 14 — and performed oral sex on him in his mother’s trailer shortly before his 15th birthday. The victim testified he “felt obligated” to reciprocate the act and described feeling powerless to resist a man he believed to be “representative of God on earth.”
The victim further testified Casey committed in excess of 50 sexual acts against him when he was between 10 and 16 years of age, with most of the offenses occurring in Sullivan County, but others also taking place in Greene County, McDowell County, N.C., and Scott County, Va.
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.