Judge delays questioning of alleged priest abuse victim in civil suit

Rev. Charles Engelhardt and teacher Bernard Shero will not be able to question their accuser until after their criminal abuse trial.

The two men, named in a grand jury report with three others for sexual abuse against two former students at St. Jerome School in Northeast Philadelphia, requested their accuser’s medical and personal records and a chance to interrogate him. The accuser, known as Billy Doe, filed a civil suit earlier this year.

The Inquirer reports Common Pleas Court Judge William J. Manfred has denied the men’s request on the grounds it would “turn everybody upside down.” Engelhardt’s lawyer is also asking that his client be tried separately in the civil suit, saying the claims against Engelhardt are just a small portion of the complaint.