The Rev. Stephen Valenta, a Franciscan friar indicted last April on a sexual assault charge and scheduled to go on trial Monday before 20th District Judge Ed Magre, pleaded no contest and will serve five years unadjudicated probation cloistered in a friary.
Valenta, 86, had pleaded innocent and was scheduled to go on trial before the judge, but proceedings were delayed as his attorneys met with prosecutor Kerry Spears to work out details of a plea agreement.
Valenta was indicted April 16, 2009, by a Milam County grand jury on third-degree felony sexual assault in connection with an incident May 21, 2008, in which a visiting priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rockdale forced a Rockdale woman to perform oral sex in the church rectory.
At least 13 people, including children, have been killed and 25 were injured as Israel launched...
Thick fog has enabled Russian troops to move further into the key strategic city of Pokrovsk...
The Washington National Opera (WNO) is considering moving out of the Kennedy Center, the company’s home...
