PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
BY LIZ ZEMBA | Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016
A federal judge on Tuesday delayed ruling on a Somerset County priest’s request for a new trial on his convictions for sexually molesting orphaned boys.
But U.S. District Court Judge Kim R. Gibson took interest in a defense allegation that prosecutors failed to turn over a victim’s statement that might have been favorable to the Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio.
“To me, it’s pretty clear this is favorable to the defense,” Gibson said during the hearing in Johnstown. “Whether it’s material is a separate issue.”
Maurizio is awaiting sentencing on charges he sexually molested boys at a Honduran orphanage between 1999 and 2009. The sentencing was postponed when his attorney, Steven Passarello of Altoona, filed motions seeking a new trial based on newly discovered evidence and an alleged Brady violation.
Passarello said the new evidence is a statement one of the victims gave an investigator on Sept. 20, when the trial was nearly over. In it, the victim indicates he was not “abused” by Maurizio, Passarello said.
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