Jury rejects priest's claims of defamation in abuse case

Janesville, Wisconsin —

A jury on Thursday decided against a Catholic priest who said he was falsely accused of sexual abuse by a former altar boy, concluding the allegations were substantially true.

After two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected claims that the 26-year-old man had defamed the Rev. Gerald Vosen of Baraboo by concocting the story of abuse to explain to his parents why he was gay.

John Casey, the man's attorney, said his client's credibility was attacked for more than a year, but it took a jury only two hours to substantiate his claims that the priest abused him while an altar boy and student at a Catholic elementary school in Janesville.

"My client has been vindicated. Now the public knows he is not a liar," Casey said. "But he will never have his childhood back."

Vosen, 71, had sued the man last year claiming the allegations were false. His attorney asked jurors to award the priest $1.1 million in punitive damages. Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald, said the jury may have been prejudiced by news coverage of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.

Read the article at St. Paul Pioneer Press Dated August 8, 2005

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