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The alleged attacks began in August 1978 when Donohoe joined a peer advocacy group at North Catholic moderated by Behan, who was then a teacher there. Donohoe, who testified in open court for the first time on Monday, was 15.
After a late meeting at the school, on Torresdale Avenue near Erie Avenue, Behan offered to drive Donohue home, the victim claimed. Instead, Behan took the teen to the rectory of the priest’s religious order — the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales — and asked him to stay the night.
Donohoe agreed to stay and called his mother to notify her. That night, Behan and Donohoe slept in the same bed and allegedly had sex.
"When the lights went out, he rolled over and put his arms around me from behind," Donohue said, "his body against mine. He started kissing me on my neck and fondling me. Then he performed oral sex on me."
Behan and Donohoe engaged in similar activities, as well as anal sex, on three more occasions at the rectory, Donohoe said. The teen also served as an altar boy for Behan during Mass.
In 1980, the Oblates transferred Behan to a parish in North Carolina, but the encounters with Donohoe allegedly continued.
"He would drive me down a few times (and) fly me down," Donohoe said.
When asked by the prosecutor if he wanted the sex to occur the first time, Donohoe replied, "No." And when asked if he gave consent after that, the victim said, "I really didn’t have a yes or no answer, it just happened."
The victim cut off the sexual relations when he was 17, he said.
Behan, though assigned to several parishes in North Carolina during the ensuing years, made regular visits to family in Philadelphia and conducted special services here, such as weddings and funerals, McGovern said. He stayed in the city while on sabbatical in 1991 and 1992, as well, the defense claimed.
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Under cross-examination by McGovern, Donohoe conceded that he attended the funeral of Behan’s own father in Philadelphia. That occurred in 1985.
Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCartney argued that the priest’s visits did not impact the statute of limitations and cited two Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings that, she claimed, reaffirmed similar suspensions of the statute in previous cases.
"Fleeting contact with the jurisdiction does not change (the suspended limitation)," McCartney said. "The fact that Father Behan occasionally does a baptism or funeral does not change it."
Morrison, citing additional case law, including one ruling dating back to 1860, argued that authorities had to make an effort to locate Behan in order for the statute to be suspended.
"There’s a two-pronged test," Morrison said. "First, the person had to flee (prosecution). And the second part of that is that there was a diligent search (by authorities)."
Added McGovern, "The singular fact in this case is that the complainant did not make the accusation for a quarter century."
After the hearing, McGovern said, "I think it’s a perversion of justice for all of us."
At a June hearing before Anderson, McCartney said that the statute-of-limitations issue shouldn’t even be argued until after the preliminary hearing, where a judge determines if there is enough evidence against a defendant to proceed to a full trial. But the debate Monday on the defense’s request to dismiss the case went ahead, anyway.
McGovern may raise the statute of limitations issue again when the case moves onto the trial phase in Common Pleas Court. Behan was scheduled for an Aug. 30 arraignment.
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Statutes of limitation are in place for most crimes because witnesses can die or disappear over time, memories can fade and physical evidence can be destroyed or become obsolete.
During Monday’s hearing, McGovern prompted a series of objections from the prosecution by asking Donohoe about his purported attempts to coax a financial settlement from the Oblates before reporting the case to authorities.
The defense attorney asked the victim if he knew about one attorney who contacted the order in April 2002 "demanding money in settlement" or another attorney who did the same at a later date.
Then McGovern asked Donohoe if, after the Oblates refused to pay, he contacted the Philadelphia Inquirer to offer his story to the newspaper.
"If you had gotten a million or two million … , you would’ve never gone to the Inquirer?" McGovern posed to the victim.
Anderson did not allow Donohoe to respond to any of McGovern’s allegations. After the hearing, McCartney said of the money angle, "It’s a completely irrelevant fact."
An article appearing in the Inquirer in June 2002 quoted, but did not name, Donohoe as Behan’s accuser. The same publication named Donohoe in March 2004 when District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham announced the grand jury indictment of the priest.
When asked by McCartney why he waited more than 25 years to report the incidents to authorities, Donohoe said, "Because it’s an absolutely disgusting crime and it’s not something you go and tell people." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com