MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune
By Tom Olsen Today
A judge has denied a motion to dismiss the felony charges against a Hibbing priest accused of sexually abusing underage girls, setting the stage for the case to go to trial.
In an order filed Monday, 6th Judicial District Judge David Ackerson concluded that a jury should decide whether or not Brian Michael Lederer is guilty of seven sexual assault and child pornography charges.
“Considering all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the state’s position, the state has presented sufficient evidence to support a determination of probable cause to proceed to trial against the Defendant on all Counts,” Ackerson wrote in his five-page order.
With the filing of the order, not-guilty pleas were entered on Lederer’s behalf to all charges.
Lederer, 30, had challenged the sufficiency of evidence, which was based largely on the accounts of four girls who reported inappropriate touching by Lederer, who worked at Blessed Sacrament Parish and the Assumption Catholic School.
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