Slocum Lawyer:
Bad Judgment is Not in the Criminal Code
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
During a hearing this morning, Father Sam Slocum’s lawyer asked that the charges against his client be dismissed because using “bad judgment, especially with 20/20 hindsight, is not in the criminal code.”
District Judge Rich Luther did dismiss a charge of criminal trespass but bound to court charges of interference with custody of children and concealment of the whereabouts of a child.
Slocum is accused of allowing a 15-year-old boy to be at his house and the rectory in Lewis Run after the boy’s mother said she didn’t want her son there.
Both the boy and his mother testified during the hearing that lasted nearly two hours. Slocum did not take the stand.
The mother testified that she wrote a letter to Slocum after learning that her son was going to see the priest when he was grounded. She said at first she was not concerned about her son spending time with Slocum, but she eventually did get concerned that the boy was spending too much time with Slocum and lying about where he’d been.
Both she and her son testified that he skipped school one day and spent the day with Slocum. She said a couple of months later she had grounded him again because she was “having a hard time with him.” He was supposed to go to his grandparents’ house after school but, instead, took the bus to Lewis Run and went to Slocum’s.
She learned her son wasn’t where he should have been when the boy’s grandfather called her looking for him. She sent her younger son to look for him and he said he thought he saw his brother and Slocum in the priest’s car. The teen had asked Slocum to take him to his grandparents’ house, he testified.
The mother called Slocum who, she said, told her he hadn’t seen the teen. She called him back and asked again. She testified that he told her, “I’m not going to betray (the teen).”
That’s when she told Slocum she did not want him to have any further contact with her son. She said he told her he “couldn’t end it that way with (her son).”
She then said she would call the Erie Dioceses and testified that he said, “You got me. I can’t argue with that.”
She said she did not call the dioceses but, instead, called police.
Slocum had given the boy gifts including a laptop, an iPhone and Buffalo Sabres tickets, but the teen testified that Slocum did not entice him into going to his house or the rectory and that he, his brother and his friends went because they enjoyed spending time with him.
The alleged incidents happened between January and March. The teen testified that he stopped sneaking out to see Slocum in March “because this whole case had come up.”
The 60-year-old priest is free after posting $5,000 bond. He is being represented by David Ridge.
WESB/WBRR News Director
During a hearing this morning, Father Sam Slocum’s lawyer asked that the charges against his client be dismissed because using “bad judgment, especially with 20/20 hindsight, is not in the criminal code.”
District Judge Rich Luther did dismiss a charge of criminal trespass but bound to court charges of interference with custody of children and concealment of the whereabouts of a child.
Slocum is accused of allowing a 15-year-old boy to be at his house and the rectory in Lewis Run after the boy’s mother said she didn’t want her son there.
Both the boy and his mother testified during the hearing that lasted nearly two hours. Slocum did not take the stand.
The mother testified that she wrote a letter to Slocum after learning that her son was going to see the priest when he was grounded. She said at first she was not concerned about her son spending time with Slocum, but she eventually did get concerned that the boy was spending too much time with Slocum and lying about where he’d been.
Both she and her son testified that he skipped school one day and spent the day with Slocum. She said a couple of months later she had grounded him again because she was “having a hard time with him.” He was supposed to go to his grandparents’ house after school but, instead, took the bus to Lewis Run and went to Slocum’s.
She learned her son wasn’t where he should have been when the boy’s grandfather called her looking for him. She sent her younger son to look for him and he said he thought he saw his brother and Slocum in the priest’s car. The teen had asked Slocum to take him to his grandparents’ house, he testified.
The mother called Slocum who, she said, told her he hadn’t seen the teen. She called him back and asked again. She testified that he told her, “I’m not going to betray (the teen).”
That’s when she told Slocum she did not want him to have any further contact with her son. She said he told her he “couldn’t end it that way with (her son).”
She then said she would call the Erie Dioceses and testified that he said, “You got me. I can’t argue with that.”
She said she did not call the dioceses but, instead, called police.
Slocum had given the boy gifts including a laptop, an iPhone and Buffalo Sabres tickets, but the teen testified that Slocum did not entice him into going to his house or the rectory and that he, his brother and his friends went because they enjoyed spending time with him.
The alleged incidents happened between January and March. The teen testified that he stopped sneaking out to see Slocum in March “because this whole case had come up.”
The 60-year-old priest is free after posting $5,000 bond. He is being represented by David Ridge.
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