Nisey55
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Unbelievable, freakin judge needs to be permanently removed from the bench. Disgusting.Court watchdogs and advocates for victims of sexual abuse are calling for a New Orleans judge to be punished and voted out of office after he controversially delayed the trial of retired Catholic priest charged with child rape and kidnapping – on the morning of jury selection.
Judge Benedict Willard’s critics say his angry outbursts have been a problem over more than two decades on the bench. But they are raising fresh concerns after Willard’s decision to remove members of the local district attorney’s office during a rape trial in August reverberated to affect the eagerly anticipated trial of Lawrence Hecker, 93, on Tuesday.
According to court records, during the rape trial of Freddie Sterling on 21 August, Willard was notified that a male juror had allegedly come on to a female district attorney’s office employee. In a discussion that was not heard in open court, Willard allegedly called the DA’s staffer a “distraction” and ordered her removed from court, rather than replacing the juror who had allegedly commented on her looks and made suggestive comments.
When Ned McGowan, the second-in-command at the DA’s office, asked Willard to put his actions and reasons on the record, the judge immediately ordered McGowan removed from court. McGowan accused the judge of “cowardice” as bailiffs escorted him out.
“Go get me some more deputies,” Willard said, according to a court transcript. “I’m asking you to leave once again out of the disrespect that you’re performing in terms of dealing with this court. Deputy, the first assistant DA needs to leave. He’s being disruptive, disrespectful and improper.”…….
Outside court, a frustrated assistant district attorney Andre Gaudin compared the effects of Willard’s conduct to the impact of Hecker’s abuse in the 1960s and 70s, which Hecker admitted during an August 2023 interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian.
Hecker, “with his position of authority and esteem and respect, was able to victimize them,” Gaudin said. “And now we have another person with authority who has, through their decision on the morning of trial to make a recusal, caused a massive delay. And that is exceptionally frustrating for everyone involved.”
Aaron Hebert is one of Hecker’s alleged victims. He, too, said he was frustrated with Willard.
“He should have recused himself a month or so ago when all this came up about holding [McGowan] in contempt,” Hebert said. “This is just another method, a way of putting everything off … Victims and survivors are, once again, hurt again.”
The DA’s office had 11 witnesses ready to testify, including several who say Hecker molested them, as well as the alleged victim in the case before Willard, who traveled from out of state to give testimony on how Hecker suffocated him to the point of unconsciousness and raped him in a church in 1975, when he was in high school.
“And [the DA’s office] had to go through the sordid details of these abuses at the hand of this pedophile priest with all of these victims, to prepare them for the trial,” Goyeneche said. “Everyone walked into court expecting that this is the day of justice, only to find out that the judge, without any advance warning, decided to transfer the case.”………
Outcry as New Orleans judge further delays retired priest’s rape case
Calls rise for Benedict Willard to be punished after recusing himself from Lawrence Hecker case on morning of trialwww.theguardian.com
