Former El Paso Priest Sentenced To Prison For Assault

LAS VEGAS – A Roman Catholic priest who smashed a wine bottle over a woman’s head in a church office attack was sentenced Thursday to four to 12 years in state prison.

The Rev. George Chaanine, 53, had pleaded guilty Sept. 20 to felony battery with a deadly weapon and faced a possible two to 15 years in prison in a plea deal that avoided trial. He is formerly of El Paso, where he served as pastor of St. Anthony of the Desert Mission.

Prosecutors dropped other charges, including attempted murder, sexual assault and kidnapping, that could have resulted in a sentence of life in prison with parole. The duration of his sentence hinges on whether he is approved for parole.

In court Thursday, Chaanine denied he sexually assaulted the woman and offered an apology and a rambling statement about his feelings for her before he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said.

“He loved her,” Chaanine’s court-appointed lawyer, Jeff Banks, said later. “His emotions got the better of him. It was the biggest mistake of his life, and he’s going to have to come to grips with it.”

The woman, then 54, said Chaanine hit her in the head with a wine bottle, stomped on her hand, groped her and choked her until she began praying Jan. 26. She said he suddenly stopped and fled. Chaanine was arrested almost a week later near Phoenix.

The woman was treated for a broken hand and a gash on the head, authorities said.

The victim and her adult daughter gave long statements about the effect the attack had on them. The victim told Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt that the attack caused her to lose her faith in the church and that she didn’t want to live anymore.

She sang in the Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church choir and had been hired by Chaanine as the parish event coordinator.

Both sides have said Chaanine’s relationship with the woman was more than priest and parishioner. The woman testified at Chaanine’s preliminary hearing that he gave her money to help pay her bills and mortgage and treated her to lunch daily. But she said they were not romantically involved.

The church did not pay for his defense.

Bishop Joseph Pepe, the head of the Las Vegas Diocese, issued a statement saying Chaanine remained suspended from his “priestly ministry.”