A Roman Catholic priest on trial for allegedly starting a sexual affair with a parishioner was portrayed Tuesday as a predator hiding behind his clerical collar, and alternately as a vulnerable holy man aggressively pursued by a woman bent on revenge.
Jurors will have to decide which applies to the Rev. Mark A. Huberty, 44, who is being tried this week in Ramsey County District Court on one count each of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Huberty is one of a few Minnesota clerics charged for having sex with a person seeking spiritual advice, aid or comfort from them — the basis of the fourth-degree count.
Huberty, dressed in black and a clerical collar, wept and dabbed at his reddened eyes before Tuesday's opening statements.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Therese Galatowitsch, who is prosecuting the case because of a conflict of interest (Ramsey County Attorney John Choi was Huberty's high school classmate), told jurors that Huberty's victim sought spiritual guidance from him in 2008 after her brother's death made her question her faith. Huberty took advantage of her vulnerability, she said, groping her in the back seat of his car and eventually asking her to perform a sexual act in her home while her husband and children were absent.
"He's a priest, a player, and the evidence will show he is also a sexual predator," Galatowitsch said.
Huberty's attorney, Paul Engh, told jurors the woman was the aggressor.
"He was just as vulnerable as she was," Engh said. "She started to become fixated on him as time went on."
Huberty was pastor of the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood when he met the woman, who alleges that their longtime professional relationship turned sexual in 2013 when he asked if she would be his "friend." The relationship involved physical contact and sexual favors, she said. Huberty was placed on leave because of the investigation and resigned his post.
