La Crosse priest sexual assault trial starts Monday

Remember this guy:

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said he had no choice but to side with the priest accused of assaulting a woman the priest was counseling because there was no corroborating evidence against him.

And this:

A western Wisconsin diocese and Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki are being criticized for not reporting to law enforcement sexual assault allegations against a visiting priest who was later arrested.

A 47-year-old West Salem woman told the Diocese of La Crosse in September that the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine allegedly touched her breasts and placed her hand on his pants over his genitals while counseling her for a divorce, according to a sheriff's department report.

Listecki wrote her a letter dated Dec. 22 stating that her complaint was the first the diocese received against the priest and that Donkor-Baine, 47, denied the allegations. The letter also said the diocese had not been able to conclusively determine what happened.

Trial had been postponed.

During Listecki's time in La Crosse the diocese had the highest "clearance rate" of priests accused of childhood sexual assaults in the nation. The national average of accused priests being "cleared" by the diocese and being allowed to return to their parishes is 12%. At the La Crosse diocese, the rate is a whopping 64%.

Uppity Wisconsin.