A New Orleans priest pleaded guilty this week to kidnapping and raping a teenager in the 1970s, avoiding a long-delayed trial that began with an indictment last year.
In September of last yearFather Lawrence Hecker, 93, was charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and robbery.
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The sexual abuse crimes are alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 1975, and Dec. 31, 1976, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.
His trial was repeatedly delayed this year due to Hecker’s poor health and uncertainty about his mental capacity to stand trial. Orleans Parish First Deputy District Attorney Ned McGowan had promised to “put him on a stretcher” for trial.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the priest entered a guilty plea in court, and his lawyer said the priest “decided that he wanted to take responsibility for the crimes he committed.”
“I think it was just a matter of we were at the finish line, this was the day before the trial, I think he realized what that would be like and he made the decision to plead guilty,” said Hecker’s attorney, Bobby Hjortsberg. , outside Orleans Criminal Court on Tuesday.
When asked why the trial had been delayed so long, Hjortsberg told reporters that Hecker is “a very, very old man” who is “deteriorating.”
The trial “has been a long and difficult process for everyone involved, especially, obviously, the victims,” Hjortsberg said.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told reporters that when Hecker returns for sentencing, “the judge will sentence him to life in prison.”
“I think this investigation and this process represents a critical moment for some boys who are now men, some of them are now grandfathers, who have lived with this horrible abuse for years,” Williams said.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans inincludes Hecker among the priests that “they are alive and have been accused of sexually abusing a minor, which led to their removal from ministry.”
The archdiocese’s website says it received allegations against Hecker in 1996 and removed him from ministry in 2002. The archdiocese says the “time frame” of Hecker’s abuse spans the late 1960s to early 1970s. In 1999, the priest confessed to having abused several teenagers during those years.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the archdiocese said: “We hope and pray that the judicial proceedings bring healing and peace to the survivor and all survivors of sexual abuse.”
“We continue to pray for all survivors,” the statement added.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne is senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.