NEW ORLEANS — A retired Catholic priest who has been in jail for two weeks on rape, kidnapping and other felony charges will get a hearing next week to try to reduce his $855,000 bond.
Lawrence Hecker, 92, pled not guilty to the charges on Sept. 13. A hearing is set for next Wednesday, Sept. 27, in Orleans Parish Criminal Court so his attorneys can urge Judge Ben Willard to reduce the bond Willard set last week.
Hecker, who confessed to WWL-TV and the Guardian in an on-camera interview last month that he had sex with at least three underage boys in the 1960s and 70s, is accused of choking a different boy unconscious and raping him in an Uptown church in 1975 or 1976.
In the interview, Hecker denied choking our and raping anyone and said he never had sex with a teen against his will.
Willard imposed a $500,000 bond for the first-degree rape charge, a $250,000 bond for the aggravated kidnapping charge, $100,000 for the aggravated crime against nature charge and $5,000 for the theft charge.
Hecker’s lawyers, Bobby Hjortsberg and Eugene Redmann, argued last week that Hecker is infirm and not a flight risk and can’t afford to pay more than $80,000 to secure his release. They told Willard they planned to seek a reduction and filed a motion in open court Thursday to get the hearing set for next Wednesday.
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