Let's Make A Deal -- Bernard Shero Getting Out Of Jail Early

The Philly D.A.'s Office In Action

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Like the Pope used to be, prosecutors get to act like they're infallible.

And when they screw up, or get caught playing dirty, they don't have to apologize, or admit to any wrongdoing.

But today in Common Pleas Court, the closest thing to an apology just happened. Judge Ellen Ceisler signed off on a deal struck between the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and Bernard Shero's lawyers to let Shero out of jail nearly a dozen years early.

Shero, 54, is the former schoolteacher doing 8 to 16 years for his 2013 conviction by a jury on charges that included rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault. But Shero's conviction comes with a big asterisk -- the alleged victim in the case was Danny Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," the  lying, scheming altar boy who has since been outed as a complete fraud.

Shero, 54, has already done 4 years, 6 months and two weeks in jail for crimes that never happened. He has another 11 1/2 years to go on his maximum sentence as a convicted child rapist. But as soon as tomorrow, he'll be walking out of State Correctional Institution in Houtzdale, thanks to a deal finalized today during a half-hour teleconference between the prison and Judge Ceisler's courtroom at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia.

Wearing a maroon jumpsuit, inmate Shero was seen on TV in Judge Ceisler's courtroom, answering questions posed by the judge, his lawyer, Jeff Ogren, and a couple of assistant district attorneys.

What spurred the D.A. to cave?

Shero had a petition for a new trial pending under the Post-Conviction Relief Act. And reading the tea leaves, the throughly corrupt Philadelphia District Attorney's Office may have gotten the distinct impression from a prior hearing that Judge Ceisler was about to rule against them.

Shero's lawyers were pursuing a new trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. Their star witness: Joe Walsh, the retired detective who was the District Attorney's lead investigator on the Billy Doe case. Walsh came forward to say that Danny Gallagher was a liar who admitted that he just "made up stuff."

In a 12-page affidavit, Walsh wrote that he caught Gallagher telling so many lies that the detective repeatedly told the prosecutor in the case, former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen, that her star witness wasn't credible, and that all the evidence he had gathered contradicted Gallagher's crazy stories. Sorensen's response, according to Walsh: "You're killing my case."

With a killer witness like that in the defense's corner, the D.A.'s office was justifiably concerned about  losing the PCRA hearing, and Shero getting a new trial. And the damaging stuff that Joe Walsh had to say getting any further exposure.

So they cut a deal. In exchange for Shero's freedom, the former schoolteacher had to undergo the humiliation of a half-hour hearing, where, in front of his family, he had to plead no contest to three charges: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, a first-degree felony; and two first-degreee misdemeanors, endangering the welfare of a child, and corruption of a minor.

Shero, who admitted he had taken Zoloft before today's hearing, had to sit there while an assistant district attorney read the alleged facts of the case into the record. All of those alleged facts were damnable lies -- that Shero, Gallagher's homeroom teacher, back when Gallagher was an 11-year-old altar boy, had allegedly raped Gallagher in a variety of ways while supposedly driving him home from school.

Detective Walsh, the lead investigator on the case, has already stated that he didn't believe any of it ever happened, and that Danny Gallagher was a liar. Gallagher's stories about the alleged rape also varied so wildly that he wouldn't have been a credible witness to any honest district attorney.

But the D.A. pushing the Danny Gallagher rape story was Rufus Seth Williams, a man so corrupt he had to admit to stealing from his own mother, in addition to taking bribes and selling his office when he cut his own plea bargain deal a few weeks back.

And now Williams, a complete disgrace, is sitting in solitary confinement at the federal prison at 7th and Market, awaiting his own sentencing on Oct. 24th.

But Danny Gallagher's lies live on in the courtroom of Judge Ceisler today as the assistant D.A.'s read Gallagher's fictional rape stories into the record. And Shero had to plead no contest to those lies if he ever wanted to get out of jail.

Most men in his position would have copped to the Kennedy assassination if it meant their freedom. Shero also had to give up his rights to a new trial, and any other appeals he may have wanted to file.

In return, the D.A. cut his sentence to time served. Shero will also have to be on probation for the next 10 years. And he will have to register with the state police as a sex offender as many as four times a year.

Even though he never touched a child. And he's already spent four years and six months and two weeks in jail for crimes he never committed.

When the prosecutor asked Shero if he understood the terms of his plea bargain, Shero replied, "I believe it's clear."

The judge also asked Shero if he understood the rights he was giving up.

"I'm good, ma'am, thank you," Shero replied.

For her part, the judge granted Shero a new trial under his PCRA petition, in exchange for Shero immediately taking the plea bargain offered by the D.A.'s office.

Judge Ceisler told Shero that his family was in the courtroom, including his father, Bob, his mother Bonnie, and his sister, Robin.

"They've been fighting for you for years," the judge said. She gave the defendant her "best wishes" as he embarked on "the next chapter" of his life.

"Good luck, Mr. Shero," the judge said as she ended the hearing. "Enjoy the rest of your summer," the judge told Shero's family.

After the hearing was over, Jeff Ogren, Shero's defense attorney, acknowledged that Shero was initially upset about having to plead no contest to anything. His position has always been that he's an innocent man.

But Ogren's position was simple: "If he [Shero] did nothing, he'd be coming out in a million years," Ogren said. He'd still be innocent, but he'd also be 66, after having spent the last 16 years in jail.

If he took the deal, he'd be out in a few days having a beer and a cheesesteak with his lawyer and his family.

Maybe even a few beers.

So they struck a deal so the D.A.'s office could still pretend that Danny Gallagher was a rape victim and that Rufus Seth Williams' self-described "historic" prosecution of the Catholic Church was legitimate.

Even though Danny Gallagher is a fraud, Rufus Seth Williams is a criminal on his way to hell, and his prosecution of the church is a certified witch hunt that put four innocent men in jail, and one of those men, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, died there.

Truth may be a casualty. But Bernie Shero will soon be a free man.

In Philadelphia, this is what passes for justice.

If you're a prosecutor, it means you never have to say you're sorry. Even when they catch you putting a lying, scheming witness on the stand that you know is a fraud. A junkie criminal who was willing to invent one crazy story after another to keep his lying ass out of jail.

It's all about winning, trophy heads and headlines, and the truth be damned.

To close the circle of how justice is administered in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the city's corrupt paper of record, wasn't in the courtroom today when Shero was given his early release from jail.

Of course, the Inky was there at every stop on the judicial railroad in the past seven years, publishing 159 stories while Bernie Shero was being falsely accused, falsely indicted, falsely arrested, falsely tried, and falsely convicted.

But when the corrupt D.A.'s office finally decided to let Shero out of jail early, the Inquirer was nowhere to be found.

The same Inquirer that ignored Detective Joe Walsh's 12-page affidavit. The same Inquirer that still calls Danny Gallagher "Billy Doe," and still pretends he's a victim of sex abuse.

As far as the prosecutors and their press agents at the Inquirer are concerned, it's the truth be damned. The lies live on.

Prosecutors aren't accountable for their crimes against justice. And neither is the Inquirer for their crimes against journalism.