Former US Cardinal McCarrick not competent to face sex abuse trial,
judge says
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[August 31, 2023]
By Nate Raymond
DEDHAM, Massachusetts (Reuters) -A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday
dismissed a criminal case charging former Roman Catholic Cardinal
Theodore McCarrick with molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1974, saying the
93-year-old was not competent to stand trial after psychological experts
found he had dementia.
McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was defrocked by
Pope Francis in 2019, became the only current or former U.S. Catholic
cardinal to ever face child sex abuse charges when prosecutors in
Massachusetts first charged him in 2021.
He was charged in April in a separate, ongoing criminal sexual assault
case in Wisconsin involving the same alleged victim, who prosecutors
said was fondled by McCarrick when he was 18 years old while staying as
a guest at a cabin in 1977.
Prosecutors in Dedham, Massachusetts, said that three years earlier,
during a family wedding reception at Wellesley College, McCarrick groped
the boy as they walked around campus before taking him into a small
closet-like room and fondling him.
But on Wednesday, Judge Paul McCallum in Dedham granted prosecutors'
request to dismiss three counts of indecent assault and battery over the
1974 incident, after a psychologist retained by the prosecution
testified she believed McCarrick had dementia.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/31/images/ads/current/sunag_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
Kerry Nelligan, the psychologist, testified that when she met with
McCarrick in June, he was often unable to recall what they discussed and
that his condition rendered him unable to meaningfully participate in
his own defense.
"There were significant deficits in his memory and ability to retain
information," Nelligan said.
Her assessment was shared by a defense expert who earlier this year said
McCarrick has dementia, likely due to Alzheimer's disease.
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![](../images/083123PIX/news_q6.jpg)
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore
McCarrick wears a mask during arraignment at Dedham District Court,
facing charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy during a
wedding reception at Wellesley College in 1974, in Dedham,
Massachusetts, U.S., September 3, 2021. David L Ryan/Pool via
REUTERS/File photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/31/images/ads/current/debbiesflora_lda_081123.png)
McCarrick, who lives in an assisted living facility in Missouri,
appeared by video and said nothing during the proceedings. He had
previously pleaded not guilty. His lawyers declined to comment.
McCarrick was expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood in 2019
after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sexual crimes
against minors and adults.
A Vatican report in November 2020 found that McCarrick rose through
the church's ranks despite rumors of sexual misconduct and that Pope
John Paul II promoted him despite knowing the allegations.
The Massachusetts and Wisconsin cases are the only two he has faced
despite lawsuits by other men accusing him of sexual abuse decades
ago. A legal quirk froze the statute of limitations in the
Massachusetts case after McCarrick, a non-resident, left the state.
His alleged victim in a court filing on Wednesday said the case "was
to have provided a modest level of payback" after he suffered years
of abuse at McCarrick's hands.
"McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing," the alleged
victim wrote.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Andy Sullivan, David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)
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