MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/02/2014
As the criminal sexual conduct trial of the Rev. Mark Huberty began Tuesday, attorneys portrayed the priest in starkly different terms — as the innocent victim of a possessive Jezebel or as a scheming sexual predator.
Huberty, 44, faces charges of fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ramsey County District Court. He is accused of having sexual contact with a married woman from his parish, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood, at the time he was providing religious or spiritual counsel to her. He also is accused of nonconsensual sexual contact.
He has maintained his innocence.
Attorneys for the defense and prosecution presented opening statements Tuesday after a jury was picked.
Prosecutor Therese Galatowitsch exhorted the jury to look at Huberty’s true nature.
“You will need to accept this defendant for who he really is, not what he hides behind,” she said.
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