Billy Doe Case Back From The Dead

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Like a zombie that refuses to die, the Billy Doe civil case is still scheduled for trial at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 9th, in Courtroom 480 of City Hall.

Many people assumed the case was over after Archbishop Charles Chaput caved and decided to settle with the notorious junkie hustler, but court records say the show will go on.

Msgr. William J. Lynn, and the estate of the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua have already been dismissed as defendants, as has the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. But Billy Doe's lawyers are still pressing forward with what they hope will become a show trial against three remaining defendants in the case -- former priest Edward Avery, former Catholic school teacher Bernard Shero, and the estate of the late Father Charles Engelhardt.

Avery and Shero remain in prison for sexually assaulting the former altar boy; Engelhardt died in prison last November.

But lawyers for Engelhardt's estate are still trying to clear his name, and they have gotten some help from a judge. On Sept. 9th, Judge Linda Carpenter granted an "emergency motion to compel the independent medical examination" of the plaintiff. According to the judge's order, Billy Doe has to travel from Florida to be examined at 10 a.m. Sept. 17th in the offices of Dr. Stephen Mechanick, a forensic psychiatrist in Bryn Mawr. And if Doe fails to appear, the judge ruled, Engelhardt's estate can apply for sanctions.

In their Sept. 4th emergency motion to compel the independent medical examination of Billy Doe, lawyers for Engelhardt's estate argued that the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the "alleged sexual abuse and negligence resulting from "one isolated and independent act of battery" that supposedly occurred when Billy was a 10 year old altar boy.

Doe was previously examined by Dr. James I. Hudson, a Belmont, MA psychiatrist, "in connection with this litigation," the emergency motion said. Dr. Hudson had been retained by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who issued an expert report on May 19th "relating to plaintiff's extensive psychiatric history and whether Plaintiff's symptoms could be considered attributable to childhood sexual abuse or be cited as evidence of prior sexual abuse."

But apparently the archdiocese's lawyers would not share their expert report with Engelhardt's lawyers, who so far have been paid for by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, the priest's religious order.

Engelhardt's lawyers wrote that prior to submitting a pre-trial memorandum, they contacted the archdiocese's lawyers, and were given permission to name Dr. Hudson as an expert in their case. The archdiocese's lawyers were fully aware and "did not object to this [expert] designation," Engelhardt's lawyers wrote in their emergency motion.

But on Aug. 3rd, the archdiocese's lawyers advised Engelhardt's lawyers in a letter that they had settled the cased against Lynn, the archdiocese and Bevilacqua's estate.

"When counsel for the archdiocese failed to return several calls over the course of several days, counsel for Enghardt contacted the experts directly and was advised that the archdiocese had communicated its preference that the experts no longer participate in this case," the emergency order said. "The experts, many of whom the Archdiocese is using in other abuse cases, felt obligated to honor the Archdiocese's direction."

"After a week of attempts to speak to counsel, counsel for the Archdiocese finally confirmed this position via email dated August 10, 2015," the emergency motion said. Engelhardt's lawyers then decided to find their own expert. Billy Doe's lawyers, however, refused to make their client available for examination.

That led Engelhardt's lawyers to cry foul.

"Defendant Engelhardt is entitled to obtain an independent mental examination of the Plaintiff" because it is "reasonable and necessary to the defense of this case," Engelhardt's lawyers wrote in their request for an emergency order. "Engelhardt intends to use in the trial the testimony of the physician who examines Plaintiff as to the nature, extent and probable duration of Plaintiff's injuries complained of and to refute the expert testimony presented by Plaintiff," wrote Thomas R. Hurd and Monica T. Holland, on behalf of the estate of Father Charles Engelhardt.

While the archdiocese's lawyers weren't talking to Engelhardt's lawyers, court files reveal they were communicating with Billy Doe's lawyers.

On June 17th, Nicholas M. Centrella, a lawyer for the archdiocese, informed Billy Doe's lawyers that all expert witnesses in the case were "retained and paid solely by Archdiocese to defend itself in this matter." If the case was settled, Centrella wrote, "there is no agreement with any co-defendant that those experts become experts for the co-defendants."

"However, we also do not believe that there is any prohibition on them [co-defendants] separately retaining the psychiatric and damage experts if those experts are willing to testify on their behalf," Centrella wrote.

In an Aug. 3rd letter to Judge Jacqueline F. Allen, Billy Doe's lawyers stated that "in light of the prior criminal convictions" of the remaining defendants Avery, Shero and Engelhardt, "it is now likely that, what was thought to be a possible 4 to 6 week liability/damages trial, is now going to be a 3 to 5 day damages trial only."

In a Sept. 1 letter to Engelhardt's lawyers, Billy Doe's lawyers "strenuously" objected to any additional examination of their client.

Billy Doe's lawyers complained that in a civil case more than four years old, Engelhardt's lawyers for the first time were requesting that Billy "return from Florida to participate in another, intrusive, all-day question and answer session about heinous acts of sexual abuse that he [Billy] simply wants to forget at this point."

Billy Doe "has already lost time from work coming to Philadelphia for previous depositions and court hearings," his lawyers wrote. Doe has also traveled from Florida to Boston "for an overnight trip involving a psychiatric examination, the cost of which you refused to share with the Archdiocese," his lawyers wrote Engelhardt's lawyers.

In pursuing a show trial, Billy Doe's lawyers can only be seeking the publicity that would accompany a large jury award. Of the remaining defendants, Shero is a pauper and Engelhardt's estate is minimal. Meanwhile, Avery has claimed in court papers that he's so broke he had to fire his lawyers and will defend himself in the civil case.

Avery is currently serving a sentence of 2 12 to 5 years at SCI Laurel Highlands, in Somerset, PA. His former lawyer, Clark Hill, filed an Aug. 20th petition to withdraw from the case. "Avery has indicated he can no longer afford to pay Clark Hill PLC to represent him and that he will proceed to represent himself in this matter pro se," Hill wrote.

On Aug. 28th, upon consideration of Hill's request, Avery was ordered to show cause why the motion should not be granted. Avery "currently housed at SCI-Somerset shall participate via video conference, " Judge Allen ruled. The video conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sept. 18th in Courtroom 1106 of the Criminal Justice Center.

Avery pleaded guilty on the eve of the first archdiocese sex abuse trial in 2012, where the marquee defendant was Msgr. Lynn. The following year Engelhardt and Shero were convicted by a jury on sex charges and sent to jail. Despite a mountain of reasonable doubt in the case.

Over the years, Billy has drastically changed his story about the abuse he allegedly suffered from Engelhardt.

Billy Doe originally told two archdiocese social workers that Engelhardt attacked him in the church sacristy after a 6:30 a.m. Mass. Engelhardt supposedly locked all four doors of the sacristy and stripped himself naked, before forcing the boy to have oral sex, Billy claimed. Then, according to Billy, the priest flipped Billy over and pounded away at him for five hours of brutal anal sex. After it was over, Billy claimed, the priest threatened to kill him if he told anybody about it.

But when Billy Doe told his story of abuse to the police and grand jury, the anal sex and the death threat disappeared from Billy's story.

Instead, Billy told a completely new tale about oral sex and mutual masturbation with his alleged assailant, complete with a brand new story line about Father Engelhardt supposedly showing him pornography and serving him altar wine before the attack.

Meanwhile, the archdiocese has refused to comment on the Billy Doe case. How much cash they gave Billy remains a mystery that should interest local Catholics.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, Judge Carpenter vacated her Sept. 8th order granting an emergency motion to compel the independent medical examination of Billy Doe. According to the docket, that judge's order was entered in error as an uncontested motion.

Today, Judge Jacqueline Allen granted an emergency motion by Engelhardt's estate to compel the independent medical examination of Billy Doe. According to the docket, Judge Allen ordered Billy to appear at Dr. Mechanick's office either at 10 a.m. today or within 30 days at a date, location and time "mutually agreed by the parties."

UPDATE NO. 2: On Monday, Judge Allen approved lawyer Clark Hill's petition to withdraw from the case. "Edward V. Avery will hereafter represent himself in this matter pro se," the judge wrote.