Court refuses to move, dismiss abuse case against priest

Troy (NY) Times-Record ^ | October 5, 2004 | Robert Cristo

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For the second time in a month, a Massachusetts judge ruled against the Albany Diocese's motion to dismiss or move a clergy sex abuse case against defrocked priest Dozia Wilson to New York state.

According to Suffolk County Superior Court documents released Monday by attorney John Aretakis, the court denied the Albany Diocese's request and will try the lawsuit, accusing Bishop Howard Hubbard and former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law of harboring a predatory priest.

Should the case make it to trial, Hubbard and other church leaders could be called upon to testify, much like Law was forced to testify in Boston in cases against convicted child molesters like Rev. John Geoghan.

Geoghan was later murdered in prison and Law stepped down from his position after church files proved he knew about pedophile priests within his diocese and did nothing about it.

Aretakis, who represents many alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, called the judge's decision a "huge legal victory," considering statute of limitation laws would prevent the case from going to trial in New York state but not in Massachusetts, where some of the alleged abuse occurred.

"(The diocese) is going to try to do everything it can to prevent Hubbard from taking the stand and will spend any amount of money to delay the case," said Aretakis.

The case was prompted by allegations against Wilson, 58, by now 37-year-old Joseph Woodward of Washington County, who alleges he was molested as a teenager by Wilson in New York and Massachusetts.

Woodward, who befriended Wilson in 1980 at St. Ann's Church in Fort Ann, lived with the ex-priest for a short time and claims Wilson enticed him with expensive gifts, trips and drugs so he could allegedly sexually molest him.

Wilson has a long history of sexual abuse allegations, stemming from the early 1970s when he was removed from the Albany Diocese and sent to Boston after he was caught allegedly having sex with two boys.

Hubbard was not the bishop at the time of his removal, but he was the Albany Diocese leader when Wilson was returned to this area after more allegations of sexual abuse and stealing funds surfaced around him in Boston.

Wilson was removed from ministry by Hubbard in 1993, but then held a job as spiritual advisor at the St. Christopher Residential Treatment Center in Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County, where he allegedly had access to hundreds of children.

He left that position last year after being found beaten into unconsciousness by a male prostitute he was familiar with. Wilson never pressed charges against the man, who also stole his money and car.

Over the past few months, Wilson's controversial history has spurred criminal investigations in Massachusetts and Westchester County.

The Albany Diocese recently settled a $500,000 sexual abuse case against Wilson.

Diocese officials were disappointed with the latest Massachusetts court decision, but were not sure exactly what steps the diocese would take on the matter.

"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision," said Diocese spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb. "We believe the proper venue for this matter is New York state where most of the alleged conduct at issue occurred."

Diocese officials said they were aware of Wilson's single misconduct in Albany when he was returned to the area, but only received minor work-related complaints about him while he was in Boston.

And once someone raised the slightest concern about Wilson in the early '90s, Wilson was immediately removed from his post and never regained his priestly faculties, officials said.

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From the October 5, 2004 Albany Times-Union (http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=291895&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=&newsdate=10/5/2004):

Hubbard loses bid to relocate trial
Massachusetts judge won't move sexual abuse lawsuit to New York

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, October 5, 2004

ALBANY -- For the second time in two weeks, a Massachusetts judge has denied Bishop Howard Hubbard's request to move a multimillion-dollar clergy sexual-abuse lawsuit back to New York for trial.

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany have fought for a change of location in the case of a 37-year-old Fort Ann man who claims the former Rev. Dozia Wilson sexually abused him in both states in the 1980s.

Joe Woodward, a married father and salesman, is seeking $5 million from Hubbard and former Cardinal Bernard Law, of the Boston Archdiocese, claiming the church leaders failed to protect him from a notorious pedophile.

Woodward, who says Wilson molested him from age 14 to 19, also claims Hubbard and Law knowingly covered for that priest -- and other pedophiles -- by moving them from parish to parish, and state to state.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," Woodward said Monday. "At some point you have to face it. It may as well be now."

Albany officials settled with one of Wilson's victims for $500,000 last year.

"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision and will consider whatever appropriate steps need to be taken," said Hubbard's spokesman, Kenneth Goldfarb. "The Albany Diocese continues to believe the proper venue for this matter is where most of the conduct is alleged to have occurred."

Hubbard and other New York bishops left Friday on a 10-day trip to Rome where they will give Pope John Paul II updates on their respective dioceses.

Woodward's lawyer, John Aretakis, said he was happy Suffolk County Superior Court Justice Joseph M. Walker III took decisive action: "I read into it that he's saying this matter is so frivolous it's a waste of the court's time."

After receiving Walker's decision, Aretakis told Hubbard's Boston lawyer, Timothy P. O'Neill, in an Oct. 4 letter, that he wants to depose Hubbard in November.

"I believe I will have at least four full days of questioning ... as there is much ground to cover," Aretakis wrote, noting his plan to videotape the interrogation. "I trust you will not join in the defendants' continued frivolous attempts to delay this case any further, and send me prospective dates."

Aretakis also wants access to both Wilson's and Hubbard's personnel files, which he said would establish a pattern of moving pedophiles around -- as well as motive and abuse history.

O'Neill criticized Aretakis previously for "forum shopping" in an attempt to find a favorable statute of limitations.

A pair of Massachusetts and Westchester district attorneys have each launched preliminary criminal investigations into Wilson's alleged actions.

Hubbard removed Wilson from ministry in 1990. He was defrocked in 1993.