CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Illinois appeals court has decided that a notorious former Catholic priest should not have been held beyond his sentence for molesting young boys, according to a Tuesday court filing.
A three-judge panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court ruled Cook County prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Daniel McCormack’s mental disorder would likely cause him to sexually abuse children again, the Sun-Times reported.
Daniel McCormack sexually abused a number of young boys when he was pastor of St. Agatha Church on the West Side. He also worked there as a teacher and basketball coach. His five-year prison sentence was completed in 2009, but has remained in custody at a downstate detention facility for sex offenders.
In 2017, a judge declared McCormack a sexually violent person, who should remain indefinitely in a state facility for sex offenders. It was concluded during that trial that McCormack had pedophilic disorder.
But the appellate court reversed that decision, saying prosecutors “failed to prove McCormack’s mental disorder renders him substantially likely to reoffend," the Sun-Times reported.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has about a month to appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
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