Burnor to appeal Marotta decision

BY MELISSA PINGETON, NEW LEADER STAFF WRITER

A North Brookfield woman is appealing a decision from a state board that Worcester Assistant District Attorney Anthony Marotta did nothing wrong in prosecuting a 2003 case against a now-deceased monk from St. Joseph’s Abbey. Keri Burnor — who goes by “Sister Keri,” despite not belonging to a religious order — wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to Marguerite T. Grant, chair of the Office of the Bar Counsel, that she wanted an independent investigation into the actions of Assistant Bar Counsel Sarah A. Chambers.

Chambers was assigned to look into a complaint Burnor filed in May against Marotta, who was in charge of the case against the Rev. Joseph Chu-Cong. Burnor accused Chu-Cong of fondling her without her consent in 2001. In March 2003, Chu-Cong was found not guilty of one count of indecent assault and battery. He died in November 2004.

In her May complaint, Burnor claimed Marotta “threw” her case by being “overly concerned and ‘cooperative’ with the defense and not focused on prosecuting the case to the full extent of the law.” That, she claimed, negatively affected the outcome of her case. Among the charges she listed were incompetence, communication issues, conflict of interests, and disloyalty to his client.

In a July 24 letter to Burnor, Chambers wrote that in her opinion, Marotta handled Burnor’s case “competently and appropriately” — and the prosecutor would not face disciplinary action from the Board of Bar Overseers. Marotta’s boss, Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., wrote in a letter to the New Leader: “While I am sensitive to Ms. Burnor’s disappointment in the outcome of the criminal case, I am equally sensitive to unfounded allegations against reputable prosecutors. Such unfounded allegations, especially those that are publicized, do nothing but harm innocent people and needlessly undermine public confidence in our justice system.” A spokesman for Early said Monday, Aug. 6 the district attorney had “no additional comment” on the matter.

Chambers also claimed that Burnor left the impression in her May complaint that Marotta was her personal attorney in her 2003 case. According to Chambers, since Marotta was representing the state, not Burnor personally, some of Burnor’s allegations did not apply. In her letter to Grant, Burnor claimed Chambers showed a “lack of proper standards of operation for investigations and dishonesty.” Chambers, Burnor alleged, “failed to interview any supporting witnesses” and “misled and misinformed me” about the rules of conduct attorneys must follow. A spokesman for the Board of Bar Overseers declined Monday, Aug. 6 to comment on Burnor’s appeal. “I’m not happy with the decision so I am going to appeal it,” Burnor stated in an e-mail Thursday, Aug. 2 — the same day she sent her letter to Grant. “The actual rules of conduct do apply to this case.” She added that she would speak to her “advisors” to “see if I should file a complaint on Ms. Chambers as well.”  Melissa Pingeton may be reachedat (508) 909-4143, or by e-mail atmpingeton@stonebridgepress.com.

August 4, 2007

‘Hermit nun’ takes abuse allegations to a new level

By Shaun Sutner, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A Brookfield woman who accused a Trappist monk of sexually assaulting her, only to see the 84-year-old monk found not guilty in court, has appealed a decision of the state Board of Bar Overseers that there was no cause to discipline the lawyer who handled the case from District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s office.

Keri M. Burnor, who considers herself a “hermit nun,” complained to the board in May that Assistant District Attorney Anthony J. Marotta did not properly or effectively prosecute the state’s 2003 case against the late Rev. Joseph Chu-Cong, a monk at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer.

Ms. Burnor said that she has forgiven the monk, who has since died, and does not want to sue the monastery, but maintained that Mr. Marotta was too eager to cooperate with the defense.

“How do I get justice? By having (Mr. Marotta) prevented from practicing law in the state of Massachusetts,” she said. “I am disheartened with the process. I’m upset with the Board of Bar Overseers because I feel they swept this whole thing under the rug.”

Ms. Burnor said she was dissatisfied with the prosecution of the case under former District Attorney John J. Conte, whom Mr. Early succeeded in January. Mr. Marotta is a carryover from Mr. Conte’s staff.

Now, she says, the new district attorney has been uncooperative with her, yet eager to inform a local weekly newspaper, the New Leader of Spencer, last month, when the bar overseers found no fault with Mr. Marotta.

“I am even more upset with our district attorney, who I was hoping would be a change,” she said.

The 31-year-old woman, who practices solitude and prayer, said she believes she has been recognized as a nun by the Worcester Diocese, citing a fundraising letter addressed to her as “Sister” by Bishop Robert J. McManus.

Raymond Delisle, a spokesman for the Diocese, said she may refer to herself as a nun, but that she is not listed as one in the official diocesan directory or by any established order. The bishop’s use of the title in his letter was simply a courtesy, he said.

“Evidently she’s a self-proclaimed hermit,” he said.

On July 24, the board notified Ms. Burnor that Mr. Marotta “handled the matter on behalf of the commonwealth competently and appropriately.”

Sarah A. Chambers, the assistant bar counsel who looked into the complaint, also said that Ms. Burnor had misunderstood the bar overseers’ role and also was under the misperception that she was Mr. Marotta’s client. He really represented the state, and several of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct that Ms. Burnor cited did not apply to this situation, she said.

“Some of the issues you now raise … were decided in another forum over four years ago” Ms. Chambers wrote.

Jennifer Nadeau, a spokeswoman for Mr. Early, noted that the bar overseers had found Mr. Marotta’s prosecution of the case appropriate. She also said that the district attorney’s office’s contact with the New Leader was “just following up on a story” the paper had previously published about the case.

“While the district attorney is sensitive to Ms. Burnor’s disappointment in the outcome of the criminal case, he is equally sensitive to unfounded allegations against reputable prosecutors,” Ms. Nadeau said. “Such unfounded allegations do nothing but harm innocent people and needlessly undermine public confidence in our justice system.”

On Aug. 1, Ms. Burnor wrote Ms. Chambers to request an independent review of her complaint.

She alleged that Mr. Marotta changed the trial date to prevent a witness from testifying on her behalf, and that Mr. Marotta failed to tell her before she testified that a plea bargain had been offered by the defense.

In another letter appealing the board’s decision, on Aug. 2, Ms. Burnor complained that Ms. Chambers, the bar counsel, failed to interview her supporting witnesses, a priest in the Worcester Diocese, and her twin sister, Kristi Seymour.

Ms. Burnor originally accused Rev. Chu-Cong of touching her breast during a counseling session on Aug. 23, 2001.

She was not the first woman to have accused the monk of sexual assault. Another victim told state police investigators that about a decade earlier Rev. Chu-Cong had grabbed her breast and squeezed it, according to a state police report on the investigation into the alleged assault against Ms. Burnor.

Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.