Dioceses of El Paso, Las Cruces request dismissal in Holley case

Jun. 27--Two Roman Catholic dioceses and two Alamogordo churches requested that a Bernalillo County judge dismiss a child sexual assault lawsuit filed against them.

The Catholic Diocese of El Paso and the Diocese of Las Cruces said the case required dismissal since the priest in question was not working under the direct jurisdiction of the dioceses and that the plaintiff, John Doe, failed to meet the statute of limitations.

In New Mexico, the statute of limitations for a child sexual abuse victim is six years for those abused between the ages of 13-18 from the date of the alleged attack.

The entities also state in court documents that they are not responsible for what happened to the victim as Holley was working under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts at the time.

The Diocese of Las Cruces response to the complaint includes that of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and St. Jude's Catholic Parish, both located in Alamogordo.

The dioceses are named along with several other entities including the Diocese of Worcester in a John Doe lawsuit filed in Bernalillo County in June.

Fr. David Holley, the priest who committed the alleged sexual abuse, had been sent to the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico in for treatment for pedophilic behaviors in 1971.

The Servants of the Paraclete have also requested the case be dismissed.

From 1972 until 1975, Holley was assigned to what was then St. Jude Mission Church which was under Immaculate Conception Catholic Church's jurisdiction.

Plaintiff John Doe was a young parishioner at St. Jude Mission at the time and alleges Holley and another priest, the late Fr. Wilfrid Diamond, sexually abused him and others.

Holley's conviction

In 1993, a New Mexico 12th Judicial District Judge found Holley guilty of child sexual penetration.

At the time, the charges were listed as aggravated sodomy, sodomy and sexual assault. The grand jury indictment found that Holley committed the alleged charges in the early 1970s.

Holley was arrested in January 1993 for the three charges alleged.

On March 23, 1993, Holley plead guilty to the charges.

After a 60-day evaluation period where Holley was given a comprehensive social, psychological evaluation and an evaluation for an inpatient sex offender treatment program, Holley was sentenced to up to 275 years. Holley died in 2008.

Anyone with any knowledge of sexual abuse incidents is advised to call the local police department and then the Diocese of Las Cruces Victim Coordinator Yvonne Bower at ybower@rcdlc.org or call 575-523-7577.

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.

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