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Judge sets Franciscan friars’ trial dates

D’Aversa, Criscitelli to face jury in May

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Two Franciscan friars facing child endangerment and criminal conspiracy charges are scheduled for a two-week jury trial in May at the Blair County Courthouse.

Robert J. D’Aversa, 70, and Anthony J. Criscitelli, 63, are scheduled for trial May 7-18, following an April 30 jury selection.

Both friars were charged in 2016, after a grand jury investigation, of failing to properly supervise Brother Stephen Baker, a fellow friar and suspected predator accused of molesting youth while working at a Johnstown Catholic high school. Baker committed suicide in 2013 at St. Bernadine’s Monastery, Hollidaysburg, after the abuse allegations became public.

Blair County Judge Jolene G. Kopriva signed an order Thursday setting the trial dates based on a recent conference with attorneys. She has been assigned to preside over the trial as a senior judge, a status she can claim after retiring at the end of the month and after finishing 30 years on the bench.

Kopriva is also familiar with the case, as she handled pre-trial objections, including ones resulting in an October ruling which allowed the criminal charges to stand against D’Aversa and Criscitelli and to be dismissed against a third friar, Anthony “Giles” Schinelli, to be dismissed.

Kopriva’s split decision reflected her analysis of a 2007 change in state law addressing child abuse crimes and an increase in the statue of limitations from age 20 to age 50.

Based on the years Schinelli supervised Baker, from 1986-94, Kopriva found that Schinelli’s alleged actions would have fallen under the pre-2007 law and that the statute of limitations had expired.

But in the same analysis, Kopriva found that D’Aversa and Criscitelli’s alleged actions would fallen under the post-2007 statue of limitations.

“No victim enumerated by the Commonwealth, nor any individual who was a minor child between the years 1994 and 2010 would have yet turned 50,” Kopriva said referring to the years when D’Aversa and Criscitelli supervised Baker. “Therefore, the June 2, 2016, criminal information was timely filed within the limitation period.”

More than 90 former students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown reported being molested by Baker, resulting in lawsuits and a settlement of $8 million. Those claims surfaced after the Youngstown, Ohio, diocese announced in early 2013 that it had reached settlements with 11 former students who said they were molested in the 1980s when Baker worked at the John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio.

In a June court hearing, attorneys for the friars tried to convince Kopriva that the state attorney general’s office had failed to provide enough evidence to support the criminal charges filed against the friars. Kopriva disagreed in her ruling and directed the charges against D’Aversa and Criscitelli to move forward toward a jury trial.

In Thursday’s order, Kopriva directed attorneys to complete the submission of documents and evidence by Jan. 30.

All motions for a judicial ruling prior to trial are expected to be submitted by March 2. Attorneys also have been advised that they should submit trial-related documents, including jury selection questions, by March 14.

A pre-trial conference, where plans for trial proceedings are to be reviewed, is scheduled for April 4.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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