Bk 4 Ch 1 Hemmerle’s Trial

 Fr. Hemmerle licked his lips nervously and his hands were shaking as he slid them into the pockets of his sweat pants. Since he had been warned by his attorney that he may not be leaving the courtroom as a free man, the old priest wore clothing that he knew would be comfortable while incarcerated. Before the judge began his explanation of the terms of his sentencing, Padre put his hearing aid in, something that none of the counselors had seen him do before.

Before the sentencing, Judge Butler asked Fr. Hemmerle, “Do you have anything to say before the sentencing?” The old man earned the undying respect and admiration of the Camp Tall Trees counselors when he said, “I state, again under oath, I am innocent of all these charges,” and then Padre went on to say that he forgave his accuser.

Even after the jury found him guilty on indecent or immoral practices with a child under 15, Hemmerle maintained his innocence before Judge Butler. He knew what was coming as he told a friend, who had given him a ride to the Meade County courthouse, “I don’t think that I will be leaving with you.” Meaning that he knew that he wasn’t going to be allowed to go home on probation.

Judge Butler proceeded to sentence the seventy five year old man to seven years in prison for the crime of putting Calamine Lotion on the poison ivy on a camper’s genitals forty five years before the trial. I was supposed to be a character witness but David Lamburtus, the defense attorney, didn’t call me to the stand; in fact, he didn’t call anyone up to defend Fr. Hemmerle because the Meade County judge would not allow it. Meanwhile, his accuser was allowed to read a statement, and then his wife and sister read a statement. It was all so unfair.

Finally, after the statements had been read, Judge Butler turned to Fr. Hemmerle and said, “I gave you six weeks between the trial and sentencing to get your affairs in order.” Satisfied that he had done everything within reason to be fair with the old priest, the judge instructed the sheriff to put the handcuffs on Padre’s wrists and lead him away to begin his incarceration.

I wanted to scream out in a rage when I heard the sentence. How could I be so wrong about the court system. I didn’t think that the state would put him on trial, and then I didn’t think that it would find him guilty, and then I didn’t think that he would get any prison time. He was an old man, closer to eighty than seventy, and seven years in prison may as well have been a death sentence because of his age, and the fact that the inmates probably couldn’t wait to get their hands on a convicted pedophile and priest.

I had seen the television cameras at the back of the courtroom and immediately sought them out after the sentencing. I gave a statement to two T.V. stations and, having practiced them on the hour long drive to Meade County, I knew exactly what I was going to say. “Look, what he’s found guilty of is putting Calamine Lotion on a camper for medicinal reasons,” I said, “and for that, he is going to spend seven years in prison and that is just not fair.” In the distance, I could see Padre’s accuser giving an interview to another television station, and it was at that point that I broke away from the statement that I had memorized. “It is hard to hear, without a doubt, these accusations and the sentencing, knowing that it is all untrue.”

Unsatisfied with my defense of the old priest on camera, I dropped by the local newspaper office to volunteer for an interview. The reporter who had been covering the story wouldn’t see me,

and I understood that dropping by unannounced was a long shot, but I wanted to be able to say to myself that in Fr. Hemmerle’s hour of need, that I did everything that I could do to defend Padre.

My last stab at getting some media coverage was to contact the local talk radio station. The disc jockey was an old acquaintance of mine and he agreed to give me five minutes of air time. Weirdly, the first question that the disc jockey asked me was if I had been sexually abused while I was young. It was an unexpected opening but he must have thought that I was defending the old priest was because we had a tryst when I was a teenager. After all, the Catholic Church has had a sordid history of abusing young boys, but I quickly disabused him of that idea. Then the radio personality asked me how I knew Fr. Hemmerle and I replied that “ I was a camper at Camp Tall Trees for six years in the 1970s, a counselor for nine years in the 1980s, and we had been on a couple of cross country bike trips together.” The interview was a short one but, before I was cut off, I was able to fit in the line that I had memorized. “Fr. Hemmerle was found guilty of is putting Calamine Lotion on a camper for medicinal reasons, and for that, he is going to prison and that is just not fair.”

I didn’t try to defend Fr. Hemmerle publicly before the sentencing because his lawyer, David Lamburtus, told us not to do anything that may anger Judge Butler. But now that Padre had been sentenced to seven years, there was no reason to muzzle myself. I had to defend him because, in doing so, I was really defending myself and the summer camp. If someone could come out of the woodwork, 45 years after the alleged abuse took place, and accuse Padre of sexual abuse, then it would be open season on all of the counselors who had worked at Camp Tall Trees for the 70 years that it had been in operation. Since I had been a counselor out at Otter Creek Park for nine years, I could be fair game for a disgruntled camper who might like a chance to settle an old score, and I was determined to launch a preemptive strike against anyone who might accuse me of anything.