NEW ORLEANS– A 93-year-old former Catholic priest sentenced to life in prison A teenage boy was accused of raping a teenage boy who died earlier this month, Louisiana authorities and his attorney confirmed Friday.
Less than two weeks after being sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars, Lawrence Hecker died of natural causes at 3 a.m. Thursday at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, according to Ken Pastorick, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
Hecker had pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping shortly before jury selection for his long-delayed trial was set to begin earlier this month, with other victims prepared to testify against him.
The survivor of the attack to which Hecker pleaded guilty had said Hecker raped him after he offered to do so instruct him in wrestling moves prior to tryouts for a college team in the mid-1970s.
“The only prayer I can think of is that I hope he spends eternity in hell after God’s judgment on him,” the survivor said in a written statement released by his attorney, Richard Trahant.
“Now, after his death, I feel justified and free,” he said.
The Associated Press is not identifying those who say they were sexually assaulted.
Hecker’s trial had been delayed for months, partly because of questions about his mental competency. Hecker suffered from dementia, his attorney Bobby Hjortsberg said.
Hecker was ordained an archdiocesan priest in 1958 and remained in that position even after he faced an uncontested child abuse complaint in the late 1980s. court records. Hecker left the ministry in 2002.
Hecker’s sentencing took place amid a wave of sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic Church in New Orleans, many of which resurfaced decades ago. The fallout has left the Archdiocese of New Orleans embroiled in bankruptcy negotiations.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on social platform X: @jack_brook96
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This story has been updated to clarify that Hecker died at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center. Authorities previously said he died at a Baton Rouge hospital.