BishopAccountability.org
	Accused Priest Tries to Block Media Coverage By Andy Nelesen Green Bay Press-Gazette [Green Bay WI] May 21, 2005 GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Press-Gazette has filed a protest to an accused pedophile priest's efforts to bar media coverage of his court case. Donald Buzanowski, 62, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy while serving as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay. Buzanowski's attorney, Owen Monfils, filed a motion April 6 asking to bar reporters from hearings leading up to trial. Buzanowski's motion claimed that information argued during motion hearings could prejudice potential jurors in the case. Brown County Circuit Judge J.D. McKay has resisted a change of venue in the case or the option of bringing in jurors from another county. Buzanowski, who is still a priest, remains in custody in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Buzanowski has not served as a priest since 1989, and the Green Bay diocese has asked the Vatican to laicize Buzanowski. Officials in Rome have not yet acted, however. Joseph Thornton, the attorney representing the newspaper, said WLUK-TV Channel 11 has asked to join in the protest, but documents to that effect have not been prepared. Buzanowski's motion, and the paper's efforts to intervene, are expected to be heard in court Thursday. In other efforts Friday, Monfils filed a motion to change Buzanowski's plea, adding a claim of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. By pursuing hat plea, Buzanowski will split his trial into two segments. In the first phase, a jury would determine whether he committed the sexual assaults. If jurors find him guilty in the first phase, the same jury would then decide whether he was sane at the time of the attack and whether he should be held accountable for his actions. Also at issue Thursday will be the state's effort to have McKay reconsider a bid to introduce a letter Buzanowski wrote to a pastor in 2002 in which he admits molesting 14 boys while a priest in Green Bay. McKay ruled in late April that prosecutors could use information from a 2002 child pornography possession conviction which sent Buzanowski to federal prison for 21 months. McKay said, however, the letter could not be used as evidence.
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