Ex-Priest Guilty of Conspiring to Kill Boy Who Accused Him of Rape

Press TV
May 19, 2012

http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/242079.html


A former Roman Catholic priest was found guilty of hiring a hit man to kill a boy who had accused him of sexual abuse.

John Fiala, 53, showed no emotion as a Dallas jury found him guilty of plotting to kill the boy, according to The Dallas Morning News. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison. Raw Story

HIGHLIGHTS

Fiala testified that he told a purported hit man to kill his accuser because he thought his own life was in danger. dallasnews.com

He said his friend and neighbor Scottie Fisher told him the hit man was his brother. The brother would likely turn on Fiala if he wasn't convinced the hit was on, Fiala said Fisher told him. dallasnews.com

"I knew that if I didn't do this, I'd be the one on the list, marked to be killed, according to what Scottie said," Fiala said. dallasnews.com

But the man Fiala met with in November 2010 and instructed to murder his accuser in exchange for $5,000 was actually an undercover police officer. And the entire conversation was surreptitiously video recorded and played for the Dallas County jury. thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

"John Fiala is not a puppet," prosecutor Brandon Birmingham told the jury. "He is a puppeteer." statesman.com

Tom Rhodes, an attorney for the accuser, in 2008 said that Fiala had been "grooming" the boy by buying him gifts like a computer and a car. By providing private catechism lessons, the attorney added, the then-priest "gained access to him and began to sexually abuse him once or twice a month, including on church grounds." Raw Story

The 20-year-old victim, who was 16 at the time of the alleged sexual abuse, testified with graphic details about his ordeal. Raw Story

Fiala is also facing four counts of sex crimes against children in Edwards County, Texas. Raw Story