NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Guardian [London, England]
February 25, 2024
By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas
Accuser fears Laurence Hecker may not live long enough to stand judgment in criminal court as lawyer argues priest is a ‘vegetable’
A 92-year-old Roman Catholic priest from New Orleans who is charged with raping a teenager after strangling him unconscious is now “in and out of consciousness” himself, according to the clergyman’s defense attorney, who is seeking to postpone a trial date in the case.
The assistant district attorney who is leading the prosecution of Lawrence Hecker said on Friday he was ready to “roll [the defendant] in on a gurney” to keep a 25 March trial date in the case. But a lawyer for Hecker’s accuser said they were growing increasingly worried that the suspected serial predator’s trial would be delayed – and that he may not live long enough to ever stand judgment in a criminal court.
“If for some reason he is unable to stand trial before he dies, it will be another victory for the pedophiles and their protectors in the Catholic church and another heartbreak for Hecker’s countless survivors,” said the lawyer’s accuser, Richard Trahant.
Hecker has been jailed since he was arrested on 8 September on grand jury charges that he strangled a high school student in the mid-1970s and raped him while he was unconscious. The charges came decades after Hecker provided an administrative statement in 1999 to New Orleans Catholic church leaders in which he admitted to sexually molesting or harassing numerous children whom he had met in his first couple of decades after becoming an ordained priest in 1958.
Hecker was also diagnosed as a pedophile when sent off to a behavioral treatment center after providing his typed admission. But the archdiocese let him remain in active ministry in Catholic churches and schools until he retired with full benefits in 2002, during an earlier boiling point in the global Catholic church’s ongoing clerical abuse crisis.
The archdiocese then waited 16 years before publicly identifying Hecker as a credibly accused child molester, along with dozens of other clergymen. Disclosing such a list of credibly accused clergy predators prompted so much litigation that the archdiocese sought federal bankruptcy protection in 2020.
Less than a month before his indictment, Hecker granted a remarkable interview to WWL Louisiana and the Guardian in which he answered questions about his child molestation admissions. He was lucid and stood the whole time during the interview, an 18-minute session which took place outside his apartment in 100F (37.7C) heat.
Multiple times, Hecker said “yes” when asked whether his admission to his superiors was truthful. He said society was more permissive of such behavior back then, though it was as illegal in the 1960s and 1970s as it is now for adults to engage in sexual activity with minors.
Hecker has pleaded not guilty to the charges of child rape and kidnapping first filed against him in September. In the August interview, Hecker was asked specifically about the allegations of the accuser in the case now pending against him, and he denied them.
Unable to afford $800,000 bail, Hecker experienced mental decline, disorientation and other physical ailments while being held in jail in New Orleans, and he had been hospitalized, attorneys said at a court hearing in late January.
At a follow-up hearing on Friday, one of Hecker’s attorneys, Robert Hjortsberg, argued that prosecutors would be trying “a vegetable” if they succeeded in taking Hecker to trial beginning on 25 March.
Hjortsberg later clarified outside the courtroom that Hecker’s medical records did not say he is a “vegetable”. But Hjortsberg said Hecker’s transfer to a long-term medical facility had prevented his legal team from meeting with him.
The case’s lead prosecutor, Ned McGowan, countered that Hecker was “conscious and, in some respect, resting comfortably”, according to medical records that both sides could access.
McGowan said Hjortsberg had so far stopped short of arguing that Hecker was mentally incompetent to stand trial. If Hecker’s defense team made that move, McGowan said the court would need to “convene a panel very quickly” to assess the defendant’s mental competence ahead of the March trial date.
But a trial delay would be a virtual certainty in that scenario. And Trahant said that prospect was frustrating after his client began working with authorities years ago to bring charges against Hecker.
Hecker would face mandatory life imprisonment if convicted as charged.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International