Jury selection continuing in priest’s sexual tourism trial
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JOHNSTOWN (AP) – Jury selection was expected to wrap up in the trial of a suspended Pennsylvania priest charged with molesting poor street children on missionary trips to Honduras.
Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys spent Tuesday and Wednesday picking 44 potential jurors from a pool of 111. On Thursday, the attorneys must find 12 jurors and 4 alternates to preside over what’s expected to be a three-week trial for the Rev. Joseph Maurizio.
The 70-year-old Somerset County police is charged with traveling abroad to have illegal sex with three young boys – a charge known as sexual tourism. He’s also charged with illegally transferring $8,000 to a charity to help fund the trips, which ended in 2009.
Maurizio is also charged with possessing child pornography. His defense attorney, Steven Passarello, has denied wrongdoing.