(LifeSiteNews) — A Wisconsin judge has ruled that a Massachusetts court finding that determined that Theodore McCarrick was not mentally competent to stand trial cannot be used in the Wisconsin sexual abuse case against the disgraced former Cardinal.
McCarrick, 93, stands accused of assaulting an 18-year-old boy at a lakeside cabin in the southeastern region of the state in April 1977. According to the Associated Press, the victim told investigators that McCarrick had been sexually abusing him since he was 11 years old. He also alleged that McCarrick took him to parties where other men sexually assaulted him.
The alleged abuse, which included touching the victim’s genitals, took place at a residence along Geneva Lake, just over 30 miles from the city of Kenosha.
McCarrick’s attorney asked a Walworth County judge on Tuesday to accept the findings from Massachusetts, according to a report by local news outlet Fox 11 News.
Judge David Reddy ordered a new competency exam after prosecutors argued that the Massachusetts report does not apply in Wisconsin.
The Massachusetts charges against McCarrick – who had also served as Archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2006 – had included three counts of indecent battery and assault on a person age 16.
In February, McCarrick’s attorneys requested that the case be dismissed because of their client’s “significant” and “worsening” dementia.
“While [McCarrick] has a limited understanding of the criminal proceedings against him, his progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render him unable to meaningfully consult with counsel or to effectively assist in his own defense,” his attorneys argued, per the Associated Press.
In June, an expert hired by the prosecution agreed that the disgraced former prelate was not fit to stand trial.
In recent years, 14 minors and at least eight adult clergy and seminarians have come forward to accuse McCarrick of sexual misconduct, according to BishopAccountability.org.
McCarrick was once one of the most influential prelates in the United States. Ordained by New York’s Cardinal Francis Spellman in 1958, he reached the heights of his profession by being named Archbishop of Washington in 2000 and a cardinal in 2001. After retiring, the then-cardinal maintained his influence as a globe-trotting fundraiser.
His ecclesiastical career came to a definitive end only in 2017 after a credible allegation that he had sexually molested a teenage boy was received by the Archdiocese of New York. It was then discovered by the public that rumors of his predatory behavior had swirled around Church circles for decades and that settlements had been made to victims.
McCarrick was laicized in 2019 after a Vatican investigation concluded that he had sexually abused both children and adults, including young priests and seminarians. He has always denied all sex abuse allegations against him.
Defrocked in 2019, it is believed that McCarrick continues to live in Missouri.