Texas jury deliberates fate of Catholic priest charged with sexual assault after Guardian reporting

A jury of eight women and four men in Texas began deliberating a verdict on Friday afternoon in the trial of a Roman Catholic priest charged with illegally exploiting his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with female parishioners to whom he was providing spiritual direction.Anthony Odiong, 57, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second degree involving two women, each of whom testified during a trial that began with jury selection on Tuesday in the Texas city of Waco.He could face life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree charge. A conviction on the second-degree charges could carry between two and 20 years in prison.Odiong had initially been charged with first-degree sexual assault of a third woman. But prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice dismissed that aspect of the case after the woman – said to be in an “extremely emotionally fragile” state – failed to show up to her expected appearance on the witness stand. And the prosecution opted against essentially tracking her down and arresting her to ensure she appeared in court, citing her “extremely tenuous” emotional condition.The case against Odiong came after a Guardian article in February 2024 reported on a group of women who accused the priest of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and abusive financial control in his capacity as a Catholic clergyman, including in and around Waco as well as a later assignment in the New Orleans suburb of Luling, Louisiana.Texas considers such conduct by a religious cleric in particular to be felony sexual assault. And one of the women whom he was eventually charged in connection with – who chose the pseudonym Mary Doe – brought a copy of that Guardian article to Waco police and accused Odiong of having assaulted her in that manner in their jurisdiction over the course of three years beginning in 2008.An ensuing police investigation found a second woman whom Odiong was ultimately charged with assaulting around that era while he worked in and around Waco, who adopted the pseudonym Jane Doe and had spoken to The Guardian for its February 2024 piece. It also produced a large enough number of additional Odiong accusers who met the legal standard of probable cause to afford Waco authorities the chance to arrest and formally charge him without regard for how long ago the crimes against Mary Doe and Jane Doe were said to have taken place.Jurors heard Mary Doe testify to how Odiong commenced a years-long sexual relationship with her as he provided her spiritual direction amid a tumultuous divorce that left her with primary custody of seven children. In time, Mary Doe’s son walked in on her and Odiong having intercourse in her bedroom after a family party, she and her child testified during the trial.Meanwhile, Jane Doe testified that she also submitted to spiritual direction from Odiong while in an abusive marriage. She said he compelled her to allow her then husband to engage in a form of intercourse which she found overly painful as a desperate measure to save her marriage – and to then convey details about the encounter to Odiong.Prosecutors maintained that legally qualified as assault by Odiong, even if the intercourse did not directly involve him.Both Mary Doe and Jane Doe testified to meeting Odiong while he was a priest at Waco’s St Peter Catholic Center, which was attended by Baylor University students and employees. Mary Doe and Jane Doe’s then husbands each worked at Baylor, putting them in proximity to the church and Odiong.Furthermore, jurors heard about how Waco police investigators obtained DNA evidence establishing that Odiong in the spring of 2023 had fathered a child with a woman, assigned the pseudonym Presley Jones, to whom he provided spiritual direction while he was the pastor of St Anthony of Padua church in Luling.Odiong is not accused of a crime against Jones because Louisiana does not have a law like the one under which he was prosecuted in Texas.Nonetheless, authorities maintained that the daughter of Jones and Odiong is living, breathing proof of his pattern of pursuing sex with female parishioners whom he met through his clerical work.Jurors heard expert testimony that it is clergymen’s responsibility – not those under their spiritual direction – to preserve boundaries, including Catholic priests’ promise to be sexually celibate.Odiong’s attorneys, Gerald Villarial and Carolina Truesdale, on Friday called just one witness to testify to the former priest’s character. The witness, a former parishioner, testified briefly about attending the 2011 party that Odiong attended at Mary Doe’s home – and on cross-examination admitted that the former priest’s actions did not live up to expectations of a faith leader.“Did you know that Father Anthony was really father Anthony,” Calvert said, alluding to the fact that he was a father in the biological sense.“Just what I read in the paper,” the witness said. “Yes.”A second witness was subpoenaed by defense attorneys but did not appear at the courthouse or on Zoom. After nearly an hour of waiting, Judge Thomas West ordered local sheriff’s deputies to effectively arrest the man and force him to testify. Still, after a lunch break, the defense chose not to call the second witness to the stand.In closing arguments, Truesdale and Villarial attempted to cast doubt on the credibility of the women Odiong is accused of assaulting. Truesdale repeatedly called it a “dating relationship”.“Is this man a cult leader? Did this man put them in a compound?” Truesdale said. “There is a responsibility on the women as well.”In his own closing arguments, Calvert pushed back against that characterization of Odiong’s sexual acts.“This wasn’t a guy who fell in love, these weren’t star-crossed lovers. This was a pattern. This was deliberate,” Calvert said. “His weapon was faith. Devout faith. Sincere faith.” Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html