World
Wisconsin sexual abuse case against defrocked Cardinal McCarrick suspended
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge suspended charges against defrocked Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, accused of sexually assaulting a boy in the 1970s, ruling Wednesday that the former cleric is incompetent for trial because of dementia.
The decision will be reviewed at the end of the year, according to court records.
McCarrick, who did not appear in person for the hearing but listened in by phone, was charged with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man more than 45 years ago, court records show. A criminal complaint alleges he fondled the man in 1977 while staying at a cabin on Geneva Lake in southeastern Wisconsin.
The alleged victim, who was not named, also told investigators that McCarrick had repeatedly sexually assaulted him since he was 11 and even brought him to parties where other adult men abused him, according to the complaint.
McCarrick’s Wisconsin attorney did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
Peter Isely, program director of Nate’s Mission, a Wisconsin-based project of Ending Clergy Abuse, issued a statement saying the charge “would bring McCarrick to some kind of justice. For a victim to see his offender before a judge — even if that appearance is by phone — it can be a day of emancipation and liberation from carrying the awful burden of shame and secrecy that are an inevitable consequence of these crimes.”
McCarrick was removed from the priesthood in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found he had sexually molested adults and children.
He became the highest-ranking Catholic official in the U.S. to face criminal charges for sexual abuse when he was accused in 2021 of assaulting a teenage boy at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. His attorneys asked the judge earlier this year to dismiss the charges in that case, saying McCarrick, now 92 and suffering from dementia, was not competent to stand trial.
The once-powerful priest was ordained in 1958 and became archbishop in Newark, New Jersey, in 1986 and then archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, rising to power despite church officials’ knowledge of accusations against him. A two-year Vatican investigation into McCarrick’s tenure found credible reports of his problematic behavior dating back to 1999, including an inquiry confirming that he slept with seminarians.
The church has confirmed it made financial settlements with adults who accused McCarrick of sexual misconduct. The cardinal retired in 2006 but continued to be active in political circles until he was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019.
Wisconsin prosecutors learned of the alleged 1977 assault through a program dedicated to prosecuting instances of abuse by faith leaders, they said in a statement at the time McCarrick was charged. Officials were able to charge him because the statute of limitations does not apply to people who are not residents of the state. A similar law allowed Massachusetts prosecutors to bring their case against McCarrick more than 40 years later.
World
Armed men fire on Haiti hospital reopening, killing at least 2
World
US citizen imprisoned in Russia given new 15-year sentence in wake of espionage conviction
A Russian-born U.S. citizen who was already behind bars in Russia on a bribery conviction has been handed a second sentence for espionage.
Eugene Spector was sentenced to a new 15-year term for his espionage conviction, according to Russian news agencies. Spector was born and raised in Leningrad, Russia, but later moved to the U.S. and became a citizen.
A Moscow court brought espionage charges against Spector in August of last year, although details surrounding the case were not made publicly available.
RUSSIA ARRESTS US CITIZEN ON ESPIONAGE CHARGES: REPORT
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of a U.S. citizen in Russia being sentenced and that it was monitoring the situation.
Spector, a former executive at a medical equipment company in Russia, was sentenced in September 2022 to three and a half years in prison for enabling bribes to an aide of former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
WALL STREET JOURNAL’S EVAN GERSHKOVICH REVEALS SHADOWY KREMLIN FIGURE BEHIND IMPRISONMENT IN RUSSIA
The aide, Anastasia Alekseyeva, was sentenced to 12 years in April for accepting bribes of two expensive overseas vacation trips.
Dvorkovich was a deputy prime minister under former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in 2012 to 2018. Dvorkovich is currently head of the international chess federation FIDE.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan: Emergencies ministry
BREAKINGBREAKING,
Passenger plane crashed near the city of Aktau.
An passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, the Central Asian country’s Emergencies Ministry said in a statement.
Fourteen people had survived the crash and had been hospitalised, according to the local health officials.
“At the moment, 14 survivors have been taken to the regional hospital, including five in intensive care,” the health ministry’s regional department said in a statement. The Emergencies Ministry said fire services had put out the blaze
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.
Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
More to follow.
-
Business1 week ago
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age
-
Technology4 days ago
Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps
-
News1 week ago
East’s wintry mix could make travel dicey. And yes, that was a tornado in Calif.
-
News5 days ago
Novo Nordisk shares tumble as weight-loss drug trial data disappoints
-
Politics5 days ago
Illegal immigrant sexually abused child in the U.S. after being removed from the country five times
-
Entertainment6 days ago
'It's a little holiday gift': Inside the Weeknd's free Santa Monica show for his biggest fans
-
World1 week ago
Israel to close its embassy in Ireland over 'anti-Israel policies'