A pedophile priest whom Cardinal Roger M. Mahony returned to the ministry after learning of his interest in children was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, bringing to a close Los Angeles' first high-profile trial since the church's abuse scandal exploded four years ago.
Father Michael Edwin Wempe, 66, was led into court in handcuffs and sat expressionless in his brown county jail jumpsuit as Judge Curtis B. Rappe told him he would have to register as a sex offender for life because of his conviction for molesting a 16-year-old boy.
The retired priest agreed not to appeal or seek a new trial. In exchange, the district attorney's office will not retry him on four other counts of molestation that his jury was unable to decide.
He was given the maximum sentence, but has already served about 600 days and so will be in prison for only about a year more -- a sentence that some of his victims said was far too short.
Wempe has admitted to sexually abusing 13 boys during his 36-year career in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, but he could be tried only for molesting a single boy because the other crimes were too old. In the current case, he had denied abusing the younger brother of two men he had acknowledged molesting as youths.
"At long last, you will be introduced to some measure of justice," the older brother of the victim in this case told Wempe during the sentencing hearing. He and other victims who testified also had harsh words for the archdiocese and Mahony.
"If the archdiocese had done the right thing ... I would have been spared years of despondency," he added. "Because of this, they bear as much responsibility for your crimes as you do."
Wempe's hair and beard were scruffy and he appeared much thinner than during his February trial. In the probation report submitted during sentencing, officials noted that the retired priest is a diabetic who had open heart surgery in 1999 and takes daily medication. The report also said Wempe has been taking Prozac for three years "to calm his nerves."
Wempe did not testify at his trial, but in his probation report, officers wrote that he had said "this case has not only hurt him, but it has hurt the priesthood."
"He related that he does not want to hurt the priesthood and he does not want to hurt the church," the report said.
