PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net
The district attorney’s office has struck a deal with Father James J. Brennan, who was accused of the attempted rape twenty years ago of a then 14-year-old boy.
On Monday, Father Brennan, whose retrial was scheduled to begin Oct. 24th, pleaded no contest to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of simple assault, and was placed on two years probation.
“This case, which took six or seven years to resolve, ended with a whimper and not a bang because they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,” said criminal defense lawyer William J. Brennan, no relation, who represented Father Brennan.
The case sure started with a bang. Back in 2011, the district attorney issued a grand jury report, still online, which stated eleven times that Father Brennan had anally raped 14-year-old Mark Bukowski back in 1996. It happened in the priest’s apartment, on a night when the priest admitted he showed the boy pornography and then got into bed with him.
This excerpt is from pages 11 and 12 of the 2011 grand jury report:
Father Brennan, who was now shirtless, insisted that Mark remove his gym shorts and climb into bed with him in only his underwear, which Mark did. Mark attempted to sleep on his side, with his back to Father Brennan, because he was afraid to look at the priest. As Mark lay in that position, Father Brennan hugged him from behind, resting his chin on Mark’s shoulder and pulling the boy closer to him.
When Father Brennan pulled Mark toward him, Mark felt Father Brennan’s erect penis enter his buttocks. Mark began to cry, and asked himself over and over again, “Why is this happening?” as Father Brennan anally raped him. Mark fell asleep that night with Father Brennan’s penis still in his buttocks.
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