New Orleans criminal court judge Ben Willard adopts the report’s findings and recommendations could dictate whether Hecker has his day in court this summer or much later. Additionally, whether Hecker can survive much longer is a significant question given that he turns 93 in September.Judges frequently adopt findings and recommendations such as those issued by Deland and colleagues Janet Johnson and Shelby Buckley. But they are not bound by them.
A civil lawyer for the accuser in the case said his client was “frustrated and disgusted” by the psychiatric report on Hecker, arguing that the priest had repeatedly demonstrated “a lack of cognitive impairment”. For instance, Hecker granted an 18-minute New Orleans clergy abuse
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