Former cardinal McCarrick found not competent to stand trial for sex abuse

Theodore McCarrick was as soon as a cardinal – one of many highest-ranking positions within the Roman Catholic Church. He was additionally the archbishop of Washington, D.C. And he is the one present or former U.S. cardinal to ever face intercourse abuse expenses.

However now a choose in Massachusetts has dismissed a prison case towards McCarrick stemming from the alleged molestation of a 16-year-old boy there in 1974.

Two years in the past, McCarrick pleaded not responsible.

The choose’s transfer comes after examinations of the 93-year-old discovered that he has dementia.

In 2019, the church expelled McCarrick from the priesthood following an inside investigation that discovered a number of cases of sexual misconduct. Later, the Vatican issued a report saying that Pope John Paul II promoted him regardless of information of intercourse abuse allegations.

McCarrick additionally faces a sexual assault cost in Wisconsin, stemming from an alleged incident there in 1977.

Prosecutors had been capable of deliver prison expenses towards McCarrick in each Massachusetts and Wisconsin many years after the alleged incidents happened as a result of the legislation in these states freezes the statutes of limitation for non-residents who go away the state.

Many victims of clergy intercourse abuse that happened throughout their childhoods have solely been capable of search authorized recourse by civil instances fairly than prison expenses.

Various states in recent times have opened particular “look again” home windows of their statutes of limitation for sexual assault and harassment. That transfer was prompted by the #MeToo motion, but it surely additionally benefited survivors of clergy intercourse abuse.