A psychological expert hired by the prosecution has said that Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal and Archbishop of Washington, DC, is not competent to stand trial due because his dementia prevents him from assisting his legal counsel.
The 92-year-old McCarrick is accused of sexually molesting a boy while visiting Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1974. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2021. The judge will hold a hearing on his fitness for trial on 30 August.
This past February, McCarrick’s lawyers moved to have the charges dismissed, producing their own psychological expert who had concluded that McCarrick’s “progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render him unable meaningfully to consult with counsel or effectively to assist in his own defence”.
The ex-cardinal is facing three charges of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14-years-old. The accuser alleges that McCarrick was a family friend whom he called “Uncle Ted”, and that the abuse took place over several years and in several locations.
Because McCarrick did not live in Massachusetts, the statute of limitations was suspended from the time he left the state, so charges of abuses alleged to have occurred there remain legally admissible.
McCarrick was a favourite of Pope John Paul II and was repeatedly promoted during his pontificate, finishing his episcopal career as a cardinal-archbishop in one of the most public-prominent posts in the US Church.
In 2019, after multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour with seminarians, Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick. The former cardinal now lives at a church-run facility in Missouri for former priests who abused minors.
A Vatican investigation showed that rumours about McCarrick’s inappropriate behavior were ignored by Church authorities over many years.
Last April, another man came forward alleging that McCarrick had also abused him on a vacation in Wisconsin 45 years ago.
Loading ...
