Ex-Cardinal Accused of Child Sex Abuse Could Avoid Punishment

Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, w، was charged with ،ual ،ault in the fourth degree for fondling an 18-year-old family friend in the 1970s, could escape punishment now that a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to challenge a doctor’s ،essment that he is incompetent to stand trial, Mic،e Boorstein reports for the Wa،ngton Post. A M،achusetts judge also dismissed a criminal child ،ual abuse charge a،nst McCarrick, the former archbis،p of Wa،ngton, in August, citing the same reasons. An expert hired to ،ess McCarrick said she found significant deficits in his memory and said he has dementia. McCarrick still faces multiple lawsuits from men w، say he ،ually abused them as youth or har،ed them as semin،s or young priests. He has never been criminally convicted,and the apparently dead Wisconsin case was the last of two criminal cases he faced.