STAUNTON (VA)
News Leader
May 24, 2018
On May 8, 2018, William Kerr, a former Sunday school teacher and member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Francis Catholic Church, was sentenced in Staunton Circuit Court to 17 years and 11 months for maliciously sexually abusing children within the congregation for over 2 decades.
The victims submitted Victim Impact Statements and one of the victims courageously took the stand to give a verbal statement. They all described how the trauma from the abuse had negatively impacted their lives. Although most of them have had years of therapy to cope with the trauma, their lives will never be the same. Someone who they knew and trusted had sexually abused them. Someone who was highly respected within the church had robbed them of their youth. Among the people who came to the sentencing hearing was another member of the Knights of Columbus and who is also well known and respected at the church. He took the stand in support of the defendant. Who was there from the church in support of the victims?
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