Jury selection takes ‘unusually long’ in case of fired Catholic grade school teacher
The potential jurors who filled Jackson County courtroom No. 13 had already been sitting on the wooden benches for two days. As Thursday, Day 3, wore on, the meticulous questions from the defense attorney were starting to sound nonsensical.
“Three days. They have been asking the same kinds of questions,” one potential juror whispered to another. Both women rolled their eyes.
The courtroom gallery was full of folks who could decide the case of a teacher who claims she was fired by St. Therese Catholic elementary school because she was pregnant and unmarried. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has argued in court filings that her claim is not true.
Lawyers for Michelle Bolen, who filed the suit more than three years ago, acknowledged that jury selection was taking “unusually long,” but said attorneys on both sides were being careful.
They had expected the trial to get underway with opening statements by Wednesday.
On Thursday morning lawyers representing the diocese had more questions.
“Would any of you say that you believe the church is hypocritical, says one thing and then does another?” attorney Joseph Hatley asked. A few raised a placard. “Its leaders are,” said juror 66, mentioning cases of young men claiming abuse by some priests.
“Do any of you believe the church is more concerned with keeping appearances than following its teachings?” Hatley asked. Two placards went up.
“They are more interested in putting up a good front,” said juror 73.
Hatley asked if jurors believed the church “thinks it is above the law.” No one did.
Hours later, outside the courtroom, potential jurors griped about possibly having to sit for a trial they were told could take about three weeks. Finally, a 15-member jury was called shortly after 4 p.m. Some others danced on their way to the elevator.
The lawsuit claims that when Bolen found out she was pregnant, she went with her fiance at the time to meet with the Rev. Joseph Cisetti, the priest at St. Therese Parish, 7207 NW Highway 9, in Kansas City, North, where she was a member. The suit says Cisetti implied that had she “terminated her pregnancy, the school would not have to deal with whispering and the ‘scandal’ of an unmarried teacher being pregnant.”
The suit says that Cisetti told Bolen she had made the “right choice in terms of keeping the baby, but that she had violated the terms of her contract by being pregnant while not being married.”
After her pregnancy became public, Bolen reported that another teacher in the school “had bullied a student,” making Bolen’s older son, who was in that teacher’s classroom, “uncomfortable.” Weeks later, the diocese told her that her contract would not be renewed, the suit says. Her contract officially ended on July 31, 2015.
Diocese spokesman Jack Smith said last week that Bolen’s lawyers had twisted the truth, which would be revealed during the trial.
In a court filing, the diocese argued that the real reason Bolen was fired is that she “left the children in her classroom unattended and unsupervised on a number of occasions.” And Smith told The Star that Cisetti “actually wanted her to stay on” through the end of the school year “because she was pregnant, so it’s the opposite. The court record will show what really happened here.”
Lawyers are expected to give opening arguments Friday morning before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Charles McKenzie.
