The Rosary Outside Courtroom 1102

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

In the hallway outside Courtroom 1102 at the Criminal Justice Center, a couple of nuns in full habit and some devout Catholics were praying the rosary with "Father Andy."

While a jury deliberates the priest's fate, Father Andrew McCormick and his loyal supporters maintained a prayer vigil, sending up plenty of Hail Marys.

Early today, it looked like Father Andy would need a miracle to stay out jail.

The jury came back with a question for the judge that sent panic through Father Andy's supporters. The jury asked Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright if the testimony of the alleged victim alone would be sufficient to convict Father Andy of sex abuse charges. The judge responded that if the jury believed the alleged victim's testimony beyond a reasonable doubt it would be sufficient to convict the defendant.

Defense lawyer Trevan Borum looked shaken as he left the courthouse but hovered at a hotel across the street in case the jury had any more bombshells to drop.

Rumors swept the 11th floor; on the first full day of deliberations had the jury already reached a verdict? If so, it was probably curtains for Father Andy.

A defense lawyer not involved in the case who heard about the contents of the note said he understood the panic, but cautioned that it was nearly impossible to read jurors' minds.

"I've been on that roller coaster," he said.

The jury kept deliberating behind closed doors as a delivery boy wheeled in lunch. The priest and his supporters kept praying.

Shortly before 4 p.m. the jury passed another note to the judge. But instead of saying they had reached a verdict, the jurors merely wanted to go home for the day. The judge announced that the jury had reached a "breakpoint" in deliberations and had asked to be dismissed early. Normally, court adjourns at 4:30 p.m.

The judge granted the jury's wish, and asked them to resume deliberations tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

That sparked another wave of speculation; was the jury already at loggerheads on their way to another deadlock?

That's what happened on March 12, 2014 during Father Andy's first trial, when a jury deadlocked on the charges against Father Andy after four and a half fruitless days of deliberations.

Father Andy is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child, indecent assault of a child, and corrupting the morals of a minor. The charges all stem from a 1997 incident involving a former 10-year-old altar boy who claims that Father Andy lured him up to his room at the rectory and then tried to jam his penis in the boy's mouth.

The alleged victim, now 27, is a gay business manager for a New York cosmetics firm. He wasn't in  court today but his parents were, conducting their own vigil, as was the alleged victim's grandfather. "Pop" is a retired Philadelphia detective who coaxed a statement out of his grandson and then told his family, "We're going to the police."

The jury previously had asked to see a defense exhibit, a black priest's cassock.

The alleged victim testified that while Father Andy was unbuttoning all the buttons on his cassock, the priest was attempting to fondle the boy and force him to have oral sex. During the attack, the alleged victim testified that he "zoned in" on the buttons, and counted as the priest unbuttoned all 32 of them.

A cassock, however, has 33 buttons to commemorate the life of Jesus. It's been the source of some debate on this blog, how to remove a cassock, especially when you're in a hurry. Men who have worn cassocks say that you only need to unbutton the top buttons to pull off a cassock, and that nobody would bother to unbutton all 33 buttons.

Maybe that's what the jury's really been up to behind closed doors, trying on cassocks to figure out how to unbutton one.

The jury also asked the judge to read the law behind the deviate sexual intercourse charge, which involves oral or anal sex.

While the jury spent the afternoon deliberating, Father Andy's supporters kept praying. One of the nuns who participated in the prayer vigil explained that they weren't praying for a specific outcome. They're prepared if the verdict goes either way, she said.

If you're really going to follow Jesus, the nun said, it's all about abandoning yourself to the will of God. Even if that means winding up in a jail cell.