A Louisiana priest who pleaded guilty to raping a teenager decades ago will spend the rest of his life in prison, a criminal court ruled this week.
On Wednesday, The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court sentenced him to life in prison. to Lawrence Hecker. The sentence was handed down by Judge Nandi Campbell “without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension.” Campbell was reportedly crying for Hecker’s victim when he ordered the life sentence.
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“He admitted to some very horrible crimes,” said Hecker’s lawyer, Bobby Hjortsberg, to the media after the sentence.
“He took responsibility for that and I think sparing the victims from having to go through the anguish of a trial should give them closure and allow them to walk away from this knowing that they got justice,” Hjortsberg added.
Hecker had pleaded guilty earlier this month to the kidnapping and rape of his teenage victim in the 1970s. The last-minute plea avoided a long-delayed trial that began with an indictment last year.
In September of last yearthe 93-year-old priest was charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, and robbery. The crimes of sexual abuse would have occurred between January 1, 1975 and December 31, 1976.
The trial was delayed several times this year due to Hecker’s poor health and uncertainty about his mental capacity to stand trial. Orleans Parish Deputy District Attorney Ned McGowan had promised to “put him on a stretcher” for trial.
District Attorney Jason Williams told media Wednesday that he would request that Hecker serve his sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, popularly known as Angola. Hjortsberg, for his part, said the convicted rapist will likely serve his sentence in a medical facility.
In a statement provided to CNA, the Archbishop of New Orleans, Bishop Gregory Aymond, said: “Today, it is our hope and prayer that the survivors of the abuse perpetrated by Lawrence Hecker will have some closure and certainty. feeling of peace in his sentence.”
“On behalf of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we offer our most sincere and heartfelt apologies to the survivors for the pain Hecker has made them endure for decades,” the archbishop said, telling them that the archdiocese “commends their bravery.”
“Our prayers are with all survivors,” the prelate said, adding that when the archdiocese has concluded its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, “it will meet with those survivors who wish to do so.”
The Archdiocese of New Orleans includes 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 claims that the “time frame” of Hecker’s abuse spans from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. In 1999, the priest reportedly confessed to abusing several teenagers during those years.
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.