Tues, July 11, 1995

A judge has dismissed the 16 counts of child molestation filed against Monsignor Patrick O'Shea for the alleged sexual abuse of nine young men from the 1960s to 1980s.

Municipal Judge Philip Moscone granted Monday the request of defense attorneys Jim Collins and Steve Scherr to drop the charges based on recent appellate court rulings.

The appellate panels have held that to allow a 1994 law to renew expired statute of limitations in child abuse cases would violate the U.S. Constitution's ban against retroactive criminal laws.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Passaglia said he would ask the state attorney general to include the O'Shea case with a similar one from Mendocino County in an appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Passaglia said the high court would be asked to declare that the 1994 statute does not violate constitutional provisions and can be applied retroactively in cases where the six-year statute of limitations has expired.

He said the O'Shea case might catch the justices' attention because of its notoriety stemming from the accusation by several former altar boys that the monsignor had molested them.

"He's somebody who's in the limelight, and he did a lot of people," the prosecutor said. "We have a lot of alleged victims."

O'Shea, 62, the former pastor at St. Cecilia's Church on 17th Avenue in the Parkside District, was charged with sexually abusing the nine men during their early years during overnight trips to a trailer at Lake Berryessa in Napa County.

Several have told police investigators that the priest had gotten them drunk, then chosen his favorite for a night and taken the youngster to his bed.

Police reports on the alleged molestations say there are no reported incidents of sexual abuse by O'Shea after 1985.

When he was charged, O'Shea pleaded not guilty and was released on bail pending a decision on whether he could be prosecuted.

He was relieved of his pastoral duties, but remained in San Francisco. He still faces a civil lawsuit brought by one of the victims, who seeks monetary damages for the alleged abuses.

Go Back