El Paso judge weighs letting 2nd accuser, Bishop testify in ex-priest’s child sex abuse trial
A judge was considering Wednesday whether to allow testimony from a second alleged victim in the trial of an ex-priest charged with sexually abusing a girl from age ten through her teen years.
The judge was also considering whether to allow the bishop of El Paso’s Catholic diocese to testify about an alleged confession made by the former priest, 68-year old Miguel Luna.
Luna is on trial for 12 counts involving aggravated sexual assault of a child in a case that dates back to the 1990s while he was still an active priest. He served as a priest in El Paso from 1982 until his removal from the clergy in 2013.
His accuser, now a 36-year old woman, took the witness stand on Tuesday and testified she was an alter server at Corpus Christi church when Luna first began sexually abusing her. She told jurors the sexual conduct continued until she moved away from the area when she turned 17.
Under cross-examination on Wednesday, the defense contended the woman was motivated by money to report the alleged incidents.
The judge, but not jurors, heard emotional accounts Wednesday from a second alleged victim who claims she too was sexually attacked by Luna as a child. Prosecutors want her to be allowed to testify before the jury to show Luna had a pattern of child sexual misconduct, but the defense argues this would be prejudicial as Luna has been not been charged with any crimes related to the second accuser.
This second accuser told the judge that Luna raped her after the two met at Catholic school, and that he continued visiting her home to rape her on additional occasions. Eventually, she says she became pregnant and had an abortion at age 14 — and contends Luna used his position as a priest to silence her from coming forward.
The judge also heard Wednesday from Bishop Mark Seitz, whom the prosecution also seeks to have testify before the jury. The Diocese has said that Luna admitted to assaults when church officials first became aware of child sex allegations and looked into it.
