The "I was abused" Defense Strategy

The defense strategy to use?...Claim abuse by priests...No proof is required, one's word is sufficient.

MIAMI (AP) -- An apprentice monk pleaded guilty Thursday to stabbing and beating a nun to death and got 30 years in prison in a deal with prosecutors, who offered him leniency because of evidence he was molested by two priests.

Mykhaylo Kofel, 22, admitted killing 39-year-old Michelle Lewis, whose nude body was found stabbed more than 90 times in 2001 in her residence at Holy Cross Academy in Miami-Dade County. Kofel had studied at the school for five years.

Kofel, who is Ukrainian, said two priests at the school sexually abused him while he was training with a Byzantine Catholic monastic order.

Kofel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder...prosecutor Gail Levine said she believed Kofel (about being abused), and that led to the plea bargain.

Post Dispatch AP Version.

Miami Herald Version "Suspect in nun's killing may get 30 years"

Sun Sentinel story from March 2001

The Religious school where nun was killed closes