Former New Orleans Priest Pleads Guilty to Rape, Kidnapping in Sexual Abuse Case Before Trial

(AP) – A disgraced 93-year-old New Orleans priest pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges related to the 1975 sexual assault of a teenager.

Lawrence Hecker, who left the ministry in 2002, was scheduled to appear on trial Tuesday. Hecker’s gaze was fixed on the ground as a sheriff’s deputy pushed him into Orleans Criminal District Judge Nandi Campbell’s courtroom, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

Hecker pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, first-degree rape and robbery before Campbell moments before jury selection began, multiple media outlets reported. Sentencing was set for December 18. He faces life in prison.

The trial had been delayed for months because of concerns about Hecker’s mental capacity and because District Judge Ben Willard had recused himself from the case, citing a conflict with prosecutors. The case was reassigned to Campbell, who ordered Hecker to undergo routine physical and psychological evaluations before trial.

A doctor confirmed that Hecker has Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, but Hecker was declared competent to stand trial, according to his attorney Bobby Hjortsberg. WDSU-TV reported.

He Last year, a grand jury indicted Hecker following an investigation that revealed that he had confessed to abusing multiple minors during his decades of service in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. However, the charges brought against him stem from a single alleged incident that occurred between 1975 and 1976, prosecutors have said.

The indictment comes amid a years-long legal battle over a set of secret church records that were protected by a broad confidentiality order after the archdiocese requested protection by Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 after an avalanche of abuse allegations. The records are said to chronicle years of such allegations, interviews with accused clergy and a pattern of Church leaders transferring problematic priests without reporting their crimes to law enforcement.

The alleged survivor of the criminal case against Hecker is among those who have filed abuse claims against the archdiocese as part of its lengthy bankruptcy process. To date, more than 600 alleged abuse survivors have filed complaints against the archdiocese.

“We hope and pray that today’s court proceedings bring healing and peace to the survivor and all survivors of sexual abuse,” the Archdiocese of New Orleans said in a statement. “We continue to pray for all the survivors.”