Wempe quietly released and living in Leisure World. Cardinal Mahony Hearing Wednesday as Church tries to Quash his Subpoena.

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By City of Angels Lady

Call me Scoop. Thursday I interviewed Tony DeMarco on tape then thought the tape did not record. I could not make it play back. This morning I went to find out what happened and the tape played back. So it’s confirmed. Cardinal Roger Mahony was subpoenaed to testify in the Kreutzer Cases trial, and convicted pedophile priest Michael Edwin Wempe, was quietly released recently and is living in Leisure World.

DeMarco said plaintiff “wants to have Cardinal Mahony testify at the June 11th jury trial, re the Kreutzer Cases." He added: "Church lawyers don’t want the Cardinal to testify at trial so they filed a Motion to Quash the Trial Subpoena of the Cardinal.”

In fact the night before May 30th hearing on the Cardinal’s interrogatory answers, plaintiffs "filed an opposition because the Church lawyers filed a Motion to Quash Mr. Brady’s trial subpoena of Cardinal Mahony.” That may explain why church attorneys were distracted and didn't show up for the May 30th hearing.

Plaintiff Attorney Steve J. Brady of San Francisco filed the civil subpoena May 22, arguing "it’s important for the cardinal to be testifying at trial,” DeMarco said.

He added: “I like Mr. Brady’s arguments. I think they had merit.”

The following is copied from Superior Court website:

06/06/2007 at 08:31 am in department 20 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Motion for Order (QUASHING CIVIL SUBPOENA(PAPERS FILED ON 5/22)RE: BC308065)

So it’s confirmed. The hearing June 6th is regarding Mahony’s testimony.

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WEMPE Depositions in Progress
Wait. Isn't he still in prison????

DeMarco was rushing Thursday to get to Orange County and depose Michael Edwin Wempe whose jury trial is on calendar for October 9, 2007. “It’s a deposition, not a hearing,” DeMarco explained.

“We sit down, there’s a court reporter present and we ask questions under oath and he has to respond.”

To depose Wempe they have to go to Newport Beach Beach because “That's close to where where he lives,” DeMarco said.

“He lives in Seal Beach if I’m not mistaken Leisure World.”

Okay. . . Wait a minute, isn’t Wempe still in prison?

Here is the Bishop Accountability Dot Org account of Wempe’s career:

“Accused of abuse of 13 from 1972-1995 per archdiocesan report. Sued several times from 2002 to 2003. Original criminal charges dropped due to Supreme Court ruling. Re-arrested 2003. Convicted 1 count 2006. Sentenced to 3 yrs prison in May, 2006. Included in 12/06 $60 mil settlement re 22 priests which covers all of the cases involving molestations that occurred since Mahony was named head of the diocese in 1985.”

They don’t say anything about his getting out of prison.

This was reported January 25.

By Tom Kisken
Ventura County Star [California]
January 25, 2007

http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_5303761,00.html

The release from prison of a former Roman Catholic priest who served in Ventura County and was convicted of molesting a young boy has been put on hold while state officials evaluate whether he is likely to offend again.

Michael Wempe was due to get out of North Kern State Prison near Bakersfield on Jan. 6. He was sentenced in May to serve three years after a jury found him guilty of a single count of molestation but received credit for time served, prison work and good behavior.

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The LA Times reported pretty much the same information on the same date, January 25, 2007, plus this morsel:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-wempe
25jan25,1,385502.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

“. . . . Wempe spent 600 days in custody awaiting trial, and had been due for release Jan. 6. His release was delayed for 45 days to allow for an evaluation, according to Bill Sessa, a spokesman for state corrections officials Wempe's lawyer, Leonard Levine, said his client should not face additional punishment."

And back in July 2006 there were reports that other prisoners attacked Wempe, as so often happens to convicted child molesters in prison.

Apparently Wempe was quietly released under the radar, nothing in the Bishop Accountability database or Abuse Tracker so it couldn't have been in the news. . . .

And Wempe is living in Leisure World.

I didn't plan on working today, it being Sunday but there will be

More to Come. . .