Fr M Kelly's: Diocese settles and will pay $3.75 to victim

[pepipop]

modbee.com/2012/04/20/v-print/2166315/stockton-diocese-settles-with.html

The Diocese of Stockton has settled a civil lawsuit and will pay $3.75 million to a plaintiff who accused removed priest Michael Kelly of sexually molesting him.

After obtaining one of the largest individual settlements for sexual abuse, the plaintiff named in court papers as John TZ Doe identified himself as Travis Trotter.

Trotter, of Fairfax, was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton under Kelly’s direction more than 20 years ago. He said he recovered memories of the abuse years later and that the emotional fallout has prevented him from working as an airline pilot.

Trotter revealed his name to encourage other abuse victims to come forward and begin the healing process, he said.

“I wasn’t able to be strong as a child,” Trotter, 37, said Friday. “… I finally took care of that little boy inside me.”

 

[BettyBoop416]

The sympathy I was feeling for Mr. Trotter flew out the window at the words, “recovered memories.”

 

[pepipop]

Exactly, there is no other evidence (mind you it is impossible to prove), however most other ‘paedophiles’ had a history of abusing more than one child, yet no other cases were raised against Fr Kelly. Fr Kelly also passed two lie detector tests that were inadmissable.

*This is no open and shut case. Kelly passed two lie detector tests, has hundreds of his former parishioners still siding with him and an extensive inquiry by the diocese of Stockton found him not guilty.
*
Read more: irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/new-questions-about–father-michael-kellys-guilt-or-innocence----case-seen-as-similar-to-story-of-priest-accused-in-the-movie-doubt-148233065.html#ixzz1sgJD09aH

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

modbee.com/2012/04/20/v-print/2166315/stockton-diocese-settles-with.html

The Diocese of Stockton has settled a civil lawsuit and will pay $3.75 million to a plaintiff who accused removed priest Michael Kelly of sexually molesting him.

After obtaining one of the largest individual settlements for sexual abuse, the plaintiff named in court papers as John TZ Doe identified himself as Travis Trotter.

Trotter, of Fairfax, was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton under Kelly’s direction more than 20 years ago. He said he recovered memories of the abuse years later and that the emotional fallout has prevented him from working as an airline pilot.

Trotter revealed his name to encourage other abuse victims to come forward and begin the healing process, he said.

“I wasn’t able to be strong as a child,” Trotter, 37, said Friday. “… I finally took care of that little boy inside me.”

I read the story and everything is so strange…
The fellow recovered memories later ? And prevented him for being a pilot? Why not prevented him from being Bill Gates?
On the other hand, the priest wen to Ireland before the trial?
Confusing…
If I were in the States I would fear the Judicial System as Hell…

 

[Marie5890]

The sympathy I was feeling for Mr. Trotter flew out the window at the words, “recovered memories.”

I stopped, too.

 

[Lancer]

Sad and tragic…but from the excerpts of the article below…in a civil trial…I have to agree with the jury…Fr. Kelly’s best bet would have been a criminal trial…and the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard…but the stakes are dramatically higher.

The plaintiff’s (not sure if he is an actual victim) lawyer is a zealot against the Church…but we loaded the gun, cocked it…and gave it to him…he simply pulled the trigger.

The thing that is most unconscionable to me is the bishops and pastors who knew directly or indirectly that something was very wrong (with this priest and others)…and did nothing to protect the flock…we as Catholics have gotten what we deserve because of these sins, scandals and gross malfeaseance by bishops.

Lastly…Fr Kelly is back in Ireland?..I wonder what he is doing to make any attempt at restitution to the Diocese?..where is his heart for what he has done to the diocese and the faithful…and his bill may grow if he goes to civil trial again!

Pax Christi

Trotter filed suit, his attorneys said, since the statute of limitations didn’t allow for a criminal trial.
Church officials agreed to pay to avoid further litigation after a jury on April 6 found Kelly liable of sexually assaulting Trotter.
Kelly, who had taken the stand once, left for his native Ireland — citing health reasons — two days before he was scheduled to testify in the second phase of the trial, which focused on the diocese’s liability.
The diocese had to consider the jury’s verdict on Kelly, and the priest’s departure, in deciding whether to settle or continue arguing, said defense attorney Jim Goodman of San Francisco.
“We just felt it was in the** best interest of everybody to bring the second phase of the trial to an end,” Bishop Stephen Blaire said, adding the settlement isn’t an admission of negligence on the diocese’s part.**
“I don’t think a settlement in any way conveys anything other than an agreement, and I would hope people would not take it that way,” he said.
Jury members found Kelly liable after seven weeks of testimony. Because it was a civil trial, Trotter’s legal team did not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that abuse had occurred; instead, they had to prove it was more likely than not that the molestation and rape occurred.
“This case has always been (based) on no hard evidence," said David Edwards, who served as jury foreman.
Edwards said the jury looked at complaints by various parents at different parishes where Kelly served.
"For me, there just was just too much inappropriate behavior by Father Kelly,” said Edwards, 47. “It was just too hard to dismiss.”

The priest, who is presumed to be in Ireland, is still under investigation by the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office related to sexual abuse allegations from when he served at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in San Andreas a decade ago.
Manly, of Newport Beach, also represents the alleged victim who came forward from Calaveras County.
The diocese oversees parishes in Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties.
From the $3.75 million payout, $2 million will be paid by insurance and the rest will come from the diocese’s reserves.
The diocese has paid millions of dollars in settling past cases of sex abuse by priests.
It includes a $7 million payout to brothers John and James Howard, who said they were molested by now-defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady while he served at Sacred Heart Church in Turlock. O’Grady was criminally convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Overseen by** then-Bishop Roger Mahony, the diocese was criticized for covering up O’Grady’s abuses.
Mahony, recently retired as archbishop of Los Angeles, in 2007 settled with more than 500 victims — a total of $660 million — and publicly apologized for the abuses by priests**.

modbee.com/2012/04/20/v-print/2166315/stockton-diocese-settles-with.html

 

[Corki]

The sympathy I was feeling for Mr. Trotter flew out the window at the words, “recovered memories.”

Me too. Those words also tell me that there will be more rich lawyers lining up in the wake of this settlement.

 

[bluebird5159]

Don’t take what the news prints as gospel. These articles were expertly manipulated by Manly, the plaintiffs lawyer and the SNAP organization! You are not told the complete truth in these articles. You are not told that six of the counts against Fr. Kelly were dropped because the accuser was so sure in his deposition on when the abuse occurred but when he found out that Fr. Kelly wasn’t even at that parish during those times his story changed and the judge threw out those counts. Yet the jury believed hook line and sinker that he remembered in detail some outlandish things and they believed that it was Fr. Kelly not someone else who may have been the abuser. As far as what the diocese knew about Fr. Kelly again, these were bits and pieces of what was said in court to make it look extremely incriminating to the diocese, but you never heard the full facts in the paper only Manly’s version.
We need to pray for all involved in this case. For the accuser because he is a very troubled man, for Fr. Kelly who was a victim of SNAP and a lawyer who makes a very good living going after the Catholic church. There is a parish who is grieving over the loss of their much loved priest. We also need to pray for all priests because they have huge targets on their backs for the SNAP group and attorneys like Manly.
They keep saying that it was not about money but do you see them giving the money to a charity to help victims of abuse or are they keeping all that money?
As someone who knows Fr. Kelly, whose children were alter servers for him and who has observed him around children I do not believe the accuser. I am not alone in this belief, there are so many supporters who have known him for years, many 30 and 40 years.
As for him “fleeing to Ireland”, he has lost everything and even though he has many supporters, SNAP is out to crucify him because as they have stated in other blogs any priest who is accused is guilty! He is with his family where he can begin to heal mentally and physically.
What happened as a result of this trial is that there are many, many people (a lot of them young adults) who have lost ALL confidence in our judicial system.
Finally, God knows the truth and that is all that counts in the end.