Louisiana
Former New Orleans priest convicted of raping teen boy dies while serving life sentence
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 93-year-old former Catholic priest sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for raping a teenage boy has died, Louisiana authorities and his lawyer confirmed Friday.
Less than two weeks after being sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars, Lawrence Hecker died of natural causes at 3 a.m. Thursday at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, according to Ken Pastorick, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections communications director.
Hecker had pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping shortly before jury selection for his long-delayed trial had been scheduled to begin earlier this month, with other victims prepared to testify against him.
The survivor of the assault to which Hecker pleaded guilty had said that Hecker raped him after offering to instruct him in wrestling moves ahead of tryouts for a school team in the mid-1970s.
“The only prayer I can come up with I hope he spends eternity in hell after God’s judgment of him,” the survivor said in a written statement provided by his attorney, Richard Trahant.
“Now after his death I feel vindicated and free,” he said.
The Associated Press does not identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted.
Hecker’s trial had been delayed for months partly because of questions around his mental competency. Hecker had suffered from dementia, his lawyer Bobby Hjortsberg said.
Hecker had been ordained as an archdiocesan priest in 1958 and remained in this position even after facing an undisputed complaint of child molestation in the late 1980s, according to court records. Hecker left the ministry in 2002.
Hecker’s conviction occurred amid a wave of sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic church in New Orleans, many resurfacing from decades ago. The fallout has left the Archdiocese of New Orleans embroiled in bankruptcy negotiations.
Utah
Authorities seek help finding those responsible for damaging a petroglyph panel
JENSEN, Utah (AP) — Authorities in Utah are asking the public to help it determine who damaged a petroglyph panel with illegally installed climbing bolts.
The bolts were found east of Jensen in Uintah County on what’s called the Pregnant Sheep panel, KSL-TV reported.
A Bureau of Land Management photo posted on Facebook shows them embedded in rock below a petroglyph of a human figure and an animal.
The damage was first reported to the agency Nov. 10, and the bureau and the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help after officers exhausted leads. Anyone with information is asked to call bureau law enforcement.
It’s not clear how old the petroglyph is, but Utah has many prehistoric rock carvings that are protected by state and federal laws including the Archeological Resource Protection Act.
The Pregnant Sheep panel is located in northeastern Utah near the Musket Shot Springs Overlook.
In 2021, climbing bolts were found on ancient rock art near Moab, in eastern Utah. They were removed, but archaeologists say the petroglyph was forever damaged.
Tennessee
State has new execution method more than 2 years after last scheduled execution abruptly halted
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 2 years after Tennessee abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith — admitting that correction officials were not following their own execution protocols — the state has announced a new method that could allow it to resume executions halted since May 2022. But that won’t happen right away.
The Tennessee Department of Correction announced in a brief statement Friday it had “completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol, which will utilize the single drug pentobarbital.” The Department did not immediately release the new protocol to the public or give any further details.
Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee’s death row inmates, said the announcement was “notable for its lack of detail.”
“The secrecy which shrouds the execution protocol in Tennessee is what allowed TDOC to perform executions in violation of their own protocol while simultaneously misrepresenting their actions to the courts and the public,” Henry said in a text message to The Associated Press.
Smith’s 11th hour reprieve from execution came after Henry requested the results of required purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drugs that were to be used on him. Documents obtained through a public records request later showed that at least two people knew that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing. A subsequent independent review found the state had has not complied with its own lethal injection process ever since it was revised in 2018.
Commissioner Frank Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023, the same month its top attorney and inspector general were fired.
In announcing the new protocol on Friday, Strada said, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.”
Henry noted that death row inmates have an ongoing lawsuit in federal court challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs in series. They put the case on hold pending the state’s review and revision of the procedure. Their agreement with the state gives them 90 days to look over the new protocol and decide whether to amend their complaint to challenge it.
Henry said no new execution dates should be set while their court case is ongoing. She also noted that the U.S. Department of Justice is currently reviewing the use of pentobarbital in its executions.
“We know from the scientific data that single drug pentobarbital results in pulmonary edema which has been likened to waterboarding,” she said.
Former New Orleans priest convicted of raping teen boy dies while serving life sentence
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 93-year-old former Catholic priest sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for raping a teenage boy has died, Louisiana authorities and his lawyer confirmed Friday.
Less than two weeks after being sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars, Lawrence Hecker died of natural causes at 3 a.m. Thursday at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, according to Ken Pastorick, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections communications director.
Hecker had pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping shortly before jury selection for his long-delayed trial had been scheduled to begin earlier this month, with other victims prepared to testify against him.
The survivor of the assault to which Hecker pleaded guilty had said that Hecker raped him after offering to instruct him in wrestling moves ahead of tryouts for a school team in the mid-1970s.
“The only prayer I can come up with I hope he spends eternity in hell after God’s judgment of him,” the survivor said in a written statement provided by his attorney, Richard Trahant.
“Now after his death I feel vindicated and free,” he said.
The Associated Press does not identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted.
Hecker’s trial had been delayed for months partly because of questions around his mental competency. Hecker had suffered from dementia, his lawyer Bobby Hjortsberg said.
Hecker had been ordained as an archdiocesan priest in 1958 and remained in this position even after facing an undisputed complaint of child molestation in the late 1980s, according to court records. Hecker left the ministry in 2002.
Hecker’s conviction occurred amid a wave of sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic church in New Orleans, many resurfacing from decades ago. The fallout has left the Archdiocese of New Orleans embroiled in bankruptcy negotiations.
Utah
Authorities seek help finding those responsible for damaging a petroglyph panel
JENSEN, Utah (AP) — Authorities in Utah are asking the public to help it determine who damaged a petroglyph panel with illegally installed climbing bolts.
The bolts were found east of Jensen in Uintah County on what’s called the Pregnant Sheep panel, KSL-TV reported.
A Bureau of Land Management photo posted on Facebook shows them embedded in rock below a petroglyph of a human figure and an animal.
The damage was first reported to the agency Nov. 10, and the bureau and the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help after officers exhausted leads. Anyone with information is asked to call bureau law enforcement.
It’s not clear how old the petroglyph is, but Utah has many prehistoric rock carvings that are protected by state and federal laws including the Archeological Resource Protection Act.
The Pregnant Sheep panel is located in northeastern Utah near the Musket Shot Springs Overlook.
In 2021, climbing bolts were found on ancient rock art near Moab, in eastern Utah. They were removed, but archaeologists say the petroglyph was forever damaged.
Tennessee
State has new execution method more than 2 years after last scheduled execution abruptly halted
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 2 years after Tennessee abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith — admitting that correction officials were not following their own execution protocols — the state has announced a new method that could allow it to resume executions halted since May 2022. But that won’t happen right away.
The Tennessee Department of Correction announced in a brief statement Friday it had “completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol, which will utilize the single drug pentobarbital.” The Department did not immediately release the new protocol to the public or give any further details.
Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee’s death row inmates, said the announcement was “notable for its lack of detail.”
“The secrecy which shrouds the execution protocol in Tennessee is what allowed TDOC to perform executions in violation of their own protocol while simultaneously misrepresenting their actions to the courts and the public,” Henry said in a text message to The Associated Press.
Smith’s 11th hour reprieve from execution came after Henry requested the results of required purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drugs that were to be used on him. Documents obtained through a public records request later showed that at least two people knew that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing. A subsequent independent review found the state had has not complied with its own lethal injection process ever since it was revised in 2018.
Commissioner Frank Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023, the same month its top attorney and inspector general were fired.
In announcing the new protocol on Friday, Strada said, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.”
Henry noted that death row inmates have an ongoing lawsuit in federal court challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs in series. They put the case on hold pending the state’s review and revision of the procedure. Their agreement with the state gives them 90 days to look over the new protocol and decide whether to amend their complaint to challenge it.
Henry said no new execution dates should be set while their court case is ongoing. She also noted that the U.S. Department of Justice is currently reviewing the use of pentobarbital in its executions.
“We know from the scientific data that single drug pentobarbital results in pulmonary edema which has been likened to waterboarding,” she said.
