PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Wall Street Journal
By PETER LOFTUS
PHILADELPHIA—A defrocked Roman Catholic priest denied Thursday that he sexually abused a Philadelphia altar boy in the 1990s, despite having pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year, in a recantation that could be used in the appeal of a related case.
Edward Avery, 70 years old, was testifying at the Philadelphia trial of two other men—one priest and one teacher—who are accused of sexually abusing the same boy. Mr. Avery, who is serving a 2½- to 5-year prison sentence, denied abusing the boy, according to Mr. Avery’s defense attorney, John P. Donohue.
In March 2012, Mr. Avery pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He hasn’t appealed his conviction, Mr. Donohue said. Mr. Avery said he had agreed to a negotiated guilty plea to avoid a longer prison sentence if his case had gone to trial.
Mr. Donohue said that his client’s guilty plea didn’t require him specifically to admit to abusing the boy but rather that he knowingly and intentionally consented to the entry of a guilty plea.
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