PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph A. Slobodzian and John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Posted: Thursday, January 17, 2013, 3:23 PM
Former Catholic priest Edward Avery on Thursday recanted under oath his guilty plea to sexually assaulting an altar boy in 1999, potentially undermining the District Attorney’s larger conspiracy case against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
On the witness stand in the trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and former teacher Bernard Shero – who are accused of raping the same 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome’s parish in Northeast Philadelphia – Avery testified that he only pleaded guilty to avoid a longer prison term.
He is serving 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison.
Avery pleaded guilty in March 2012, just four days before the landmark clergy sex-abuse trial of Avery’s codefendant, Msgr. William J. Lynn. After hearing the testimony of Avery’s victim, Lynn was convicted in June of child endangerment for placing Avery in position to abuse the St. Jerome’s altar boy.
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