Defendant's dementia demands dismissal of criminal case against 93 year old former Cardinal

Theodore McCarrick, once a darling within the Catholic hierarchy who traversed the globe promoting peace and raising money, served as Cardinal for two U.S. archdioceses, maneuvered the white smoke machinations of the Vatican like a boss, and even spearheaded a campaign against clergy sexual abuse, was declared unfit to be tried on those very same charges on August 30th by a trial court in Dedham, Massachusetts.

McCarrick faced charges that he molested a minor at a wedding a half-century ago in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Defense counsel’s forensic examination of McCarrick indicated cognitive impairment sufficient to make it impossible for him to participate in his own defense. In turn, an examination by the Commonwealth reached the same conclusion, causing the prosecution to recommend dismissal, which recommendation the court accepted.

The Massachusetts criminal charges against McCarrick were of note not only because of McCarrick’s once prominent place in the church hierarchy, but also because of the strategy adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which relied on an unusual feature of state law that holds that the statute of limitations never closes when a potential accused leaves the state. This permitted proceeding to try to convict of misconduct said to have occurred in 1974, when the complaining witness was fourteen years old.

McCarrick remains in residential care in the Midwest.

Additional proceedings await in Wisconsin.

The case has received significant attention, as shown through a few examples here.

New York Post: Ex-Cardinal Unfit for Trial