MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
Names of New Ulm priests accused of sexual misconduct made public
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 08/04/2014
Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North on Monday denied a motion by the Diocese of Winona to move the Doe 1 priest sexual abuse trial to another district, saying jurors in Ramsey County would be fair to the defendants.
Attorneys for the diocese had argued that the level of publicity about the case has tainted the views of prospective jurors.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did not join in the change-of-venue motion.
Also Monday, attorney Michael Finnegan of Jeff Anderson and Associates noted in court that there are now more than 100 priests the archdiocese has named as the subject of allegations. At least 55 of those names remain sealed.
Archdiocese attorney Thomas Wieser included a chart in a June 18 memorandum to the court that listed the number of files it submitted under seal from March 31 through May 23. The number of files totals 103.
The archdiocese has publicly disclosed the names of 48 accused priests since December.
The church argues the rest should remain secret because there have been false and fabricated allegations that would sully the names of respectable priests.
Doe 1 is the pseudonym of a man who sued former priest Thomas Adamson, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona for abuse he says he suffered by Adamson in the 1970s at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park. The lawsuit alleges that the archdiocese and diocese created a “public nuisance” by allowing offending priests to remain active and concealing information about their misconduct from the public.
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