Trial scheduled to begin against former New Orleans priest for sex crimes

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The trial of a former New Orleans priest accused of rape, kidnapping and other sex crimes is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning (Sept. 24).

It is a high-profile case of sexual abuse. The allegations against Lawrence Hecker date back to 1966, when he took over the leadership of the archdiocese's Boy Scout program.

Lawrence Hecker is expected to appear in court today and in about three hours his lawyers will begin jury selection.

This applies if the judge is convinced of Hecker’s medical fitness to stand trial.

In this case, there were months of delays due to a lack of sanity. The defense argued that Hecker was 92 years old and suffered from a mild form of dementia and short-term memory loss.

But court documents from earlier this month show that two medical experts disagreed and declared Hecker sane every day.

A lawyer for an alleged victim said he did not want to delay the trial any further.

The archdiocese said it had reported Hecker to the authorities several times since his retirement in 2002.

As Fox 8 learned, Hecker will continue to receive a retirement pension until 2020.

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