PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadlephia Inquirer
JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, October 17, 2013
The future of the sex abuse case against the Rev. Robert L. Brennan – the former Philadelphia priest arrested Sept. 26 and charged with raping a Northeast Philadelphia altar boy from 1998 to 2001 – is now uncertain after the death of the 26-year-old complaining witness.
Marci A. Hamilton, a lawyer who has sued the Catholic church on behalf of several alleged victims of priests, confirmed that the 26-year-old man died Sunday of an apparent accidental drug overdose.
Hamilton, who said she is representing the man’s family, said the family is requesting privacy and anonymity.
The Inquirer has a policy of not identifying victims in sex crimes.
“He was a wonderful young man doing everything he possibly could to pull himself out of this darkness,” Hamilton said. “It’s a tremendous tragedy that he is gone.”
Word of the alleged victim’s death began to spread late Wednesday after the District Attorney’s Office announced the cancellation of Brennan’s preliminary hearing.
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