Sentencing this week in three high-profile court cases

MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
September 9, 2012

A disgraced Catholic priest who produced child pornography should be sentenced to 50 years in prison, federal prosecutors say.

Neither Shawn Ratigan’s vow of chastity nor his advanced education stopped him from taking lewd photographs of five little girls over an almost six-year period, Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham argued in a biting sentencing memorandum filed in federal court.

Fincham urged U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner to disregard the report of an expert hired by Ratigan’s defense lawyer to soften the sentence for the 47-year-old cleric.

That expert, Fincham observed, had “wistfully” noted that the word “Ratigan” means “caretakers of the church.”

“This Ratigan photographed Jane Doe #2 without any pants on next to a stained glass window in the choir loft of a church in which Ratigan was the pastor,” Fincham wrote. “The public can do without this kind of caretaker for the rest of his life.”

Ratigan’s sentencing Thursday will culminate a remarkable week in Kansas City federal court that will conclude three of the longest-running and highest-profile federal criminal cases in recent years.

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Of the three, though, only Ratigan’s case generated international headlines. After the diocese received a laptop containing the pornographic images, Ratigan’s superiors delayed for months notifying police about the sordid nature of the pictures.

A Jackson County judge convicted Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph of misdemeanor failure to report suspicions of child abuse and sentenced him to two years of probation.

Fincham blasted Ratigan in her sentencing motion, calling him a “serial liar,” “reckless” and “arrogant.” Ratigan poses an ongoing danger to young girls, for whom he has an “uncontrolled obsession,” Fincham argued.

“What assurance is there that Ratigan will not re-offend when he was incapable of following the supervisory conditions imposed by the bishop, whom he perceived to be ‘in his corner’ and to whom he had taken a sacred vow of obedience?” Fincham asked.

Robert Kuchar, Ratigan’s defense attorney, did not file a sentencing memorandum. However, he raised sealed objections to Ratigan’s pre-sentence report, which also is not public.

But as detailed in Fincham’s filing, Kuchar objected to proposed sentencing enhancements for obstruction of justice, for sexual contact with some of the victims and for being a repeat and dangerous sex offender. Kuchar also argued that Ratigan should receive some credit for accepting responsibility for his actions.

Fincham contested all but the last argument. She acquiesced to the acceptance-of-responsibility benefit, noting that victims’ family members were relieved that, with Ratigan’s guilty plea last year, they would not have to endure the “trauma and publicity of a trial.”

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Full article at the Kansas City Star