KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
[with video]
OCTOBER 17, 2014, BY SARAH J. CLARK
KANSAS CITY — A man who endured sexual abuse by a Catholic priest as a child is speaking out Friday about this week’s trial that resulted in a nearly $10 million settlement for clergy abuse victims.
Jon David Couzens is a former altar boy who sued the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph in an 11 day trial that ended just before the jury would have started it’s deliberations.
Couzens is one of only two men in Missouri to ever take to trial a civil suit against the Catholic church for priest sex abuse. He says he endured 25 hours of repeatedly detailed and embarassing questions by lawyers for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.
The diocese has agreed to pay nearly $10-million to settle Couzens’ suit and 29 others that allege sexual abuse by priests.
Couzens says in court, lawyers portrayed him in an unpleasant and unflattering light, but in the end he says it was worth it to get retribution for the abuse he has survived.
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