Brown said he did not know the specifics of Urell's medical condition, only that he "was obviously not well."
"He was very emotionally and psychologically distraught by those who worked with him and knew him, and that's what I think brought this about," he said.
The student's lawyers insinuated that the diocese intentionally removed Urell from the country, out of the jurisdiction of the courts, to keep him from testifying.
"What the diocese wants to do is what they've been doing for a hundred years . . . which is hide it, conceal it, and don't let anybody find out," Manly said.
Brown acknowledged that he had been accused in 1997 of molesting a boy 30 years earlier while he served as a priest in Bakersfield. When the allegation was lodged, he was the bishop in Boise, Idaho.
He testified that he was "shocked by the accusation," which he learned of in a phone call from Bishop John T. Steinbock of the Diocese of Fresno. He said he was never interviewed by church officials or criminal investigators.
"Steinbock told me about the accusation, and I told him immediately that [the alleged abuse] never happened," Brown testified. "That was it."
Brown said he called Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that day and told him the same thing.
Kern County Dist. Atty. Edward R. Jagels said he and some of his supervisors vaguely remembered reviewing the case and believed "it amounted to a completely uncorroborated allegation."
"I remember someone telling me [Brown] was absolutely furious," Jagels said. "I remember we looked into it. I doubt we have our reports anymore."
During his career, Brown said, he has been aware of at least six priests who were accused of molesting children -- two while in Boise and four in Orange County -- but has never reported any to police.
In the Idaho cases, Brown said, he did not inform police because the accusers were adults when they reported it to him and "it was my thought that they should call the police if they wished to do that."
Brown took over the Diocese of Orange in 1998.
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christine.hanley@latimes.com
