NEW ORLEANS — A court-ordered psychiatrist evaluated pedophile priest Lawrence Hecker for a third time Thursday, declaring him “fragilely competent today,” nine days before his 93rd birthday – and 19 days before his scheduled trial on rape and kidnapping charges.
New Orleans criminal court Judge Benedict Willard stopped short of declaring Hecker competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense but kept the Sept. 24 trial date in place.
The tense court hearing was unscheduled and unannounced, and it came a day after WWL Louisiana and the Guardian reported the details of the psychiatrist’s Aug. 29 report that diagnosed Hecker with “mild dementia” and stated he has “good days and bad days.”
Tulane forensic psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Deland, who had evaluated Hecker in April and May, evaluated him for a third time in court. As she testified about her findings, Hecker began moaning loudly, “I can’t hear – I can’t understand,” and Willard temporarily closed the courtroom.
“How am I supposed to deal with this during the trial?” the judge said in response to Hecker’s moaning. “All right, I just wanted it to be clear … the court would have to deal with the situation that’s going on right now.”
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When Deland finally took the stand, she was pressed by First Assistant District Attorney Ned McGowan about whether Hecker would be competent if the trial were held today.
“It’s a difficult question,” she responded. “He shows some symptoms, but he is better today than the last time we saw him.”
She went on to testify that Hecker’s long-term memory didn’t appear to be impaired, but he had short-term memory loss consistent with dementia.
“He’s fragilely competent today, but I don’t know what he’ll be like tomorrow,” Deland testified.
Not long after Deland’s testimony ended, Willard kept the trial date in place but said he would re-evaluate Hecker’s competency at that point.
Deland also testified that she had seen WWL and the Guardian’s interview with Hecker in August 2023, during which Hecker stood in the heat for 18 minutes, admitted to sexually abusing or harassing at least seven underage teens in the 1960s and 70s, and gave an extensive explanation about how the sexual revolution had made him feel “free” to do things he now realizes is wrong. She said the interview would be “pertinent” to establishing Hecker’s ability to understand the charges against him.
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Willard’s ruling on Thursday sets the stage for a trial that could see 10 or more witnesses testify against Hecker, including several victims who allege having endured sexual abuse at his hands. Still, Willard’s decision does not rule out the trial being postponed on the day that jury selection is supposed to start if the judge ultimately finds Hecker incompetent to proceed at that point.
That outcome would be devastating to the victim in the case, who would need to travel in from out of state for the trial to be prosecutors’ star witness, his lawyers – Richard Trahant, Soren Gisleson and John Denenea – said in a statement on Thursday.
“This process has been excruciating for our client,” the attorneys’ statement said. “In addition to demonstrating the incredible fortitude to be the ‘victim’ in this case, he will be putting his life and job on hold to travel 1,000 miles in order to hold his rapist accountable. The thought that he could be told on the morning of trial that rapist-Hecker is incompetent is both unfathomable and horrific.”
Hecker has pleaded not guilty to aggravated rape, kidnapping and other charges filed against him in New Orleans’ state criminal courthouse in September 2023 in connection with those specific allegations. But in 1999, he admitted to Catholic church leaders in New Orleans – in writing – that he had molested or sexually harassed several other children whom he met through his work as a priest.
The church allowed Hecker to work through his retirement in 2002, even giving him a promotion and stationing him at a church with a school attached to it. Then the church allowed him to collect full benefits and paid his living expenses for 18 years after his retirement.
New Orleans’ Catholic archdiocese waited until 2018 to notify the public that Hecker – along with dozens of other priests and deacons – had faced substantial child molestation allegations. The notification prompted so many abuse-related lawsuits that the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020, which at last cut off some of the Hecker’s financial support.
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One of those lawsuits led Hecker to provide a deposition under oath to Trahant. In that deposition, Hecker affirmed his 1999 confession and described the years of support he enjoyed from the last four archbishops of New Orleans.
Two years after the New Orleans archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing, the victim pursuing rape, kidnapping and other charges against Hecker reported him again – this time directly to authorities.
The police investigation into Hecker has evolved into an ongoing inquiry over whether the archdiocese ran a child sex trafficking ring responsible for the “widespread … abuse of minors dating back decades” that was “covered up and not reported” to authorities, according to statements sworn out by authorities.
Hecker would receive a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment if he is ultimately convicted as charged.
