The criminal case accusing former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of molesting a 16-year-old boy nearly 50 years ago was tossed Wednesday by a Massachusetts judge, who found the disgraced Roman Catholic leader unfit for trial because of dementia.
Dedham District Court Judge Paul McCallum dismissed the case after McCarrick’s lawyers presented findings from a professor of psychiatry and behavior science that their client has dementia that was likely caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
Psychologist Kerry Nelligan, put on the stand Wednesday by prosecutors, agreed that the 93-year-old wasn’t fit to stand trial due to “severe cognitive declines.”