KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
May 14
BY MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
A federal judge has sharply limited the claims that a young sexual exploitation victim can make against the Kansas City diocese and its bishop.
In an order issued Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner dismissed one of two civil counts facing the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Bishop Robert Finn.
The victim, known in the litigation as Jane Doe 173, will not be able to present evidence that Finn and the diocese aided and abetted the Rev. Shawn Ratigan in his possession of lewd images of her.
Ratigan is awaiting sentencing in federal court after pleading guilty guilty in August to taking pornographic pictures of the girl, who then was about two years old, in a Buchanan County church in May 2006.
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