Priest gets life for sex assaults

04/01/98

Associated Press

DALLAS -- Suspended Roman Catholic priest Rudolph ``Rudy'' Kos was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum of life in prison for sexually assaulting altar boys in hundreds of attacks that earlier produced a record monetary judgment against the Dallas diocese.

Kos, 52, was convicted Saturday on three counts of aggravated sexual assault and was sentenced to life imprisonment on each. The same jury also convicted him of one count of indecency with a child for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Kos was sentenced to 20-year terms on each of three other charges to which he pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. He also must pay $10,000 in fines for each of the seven counts.

Four victims told police they were molested about 1,350 times over five years.

Under parole guidelines in effect at the time the crimes were committed, Kos will be eligible to seek parole in 15 years. He could have been sentenced to probation because he has not previously been convicted of a felony.

Last year allegations against him led to a record $119.6 million civil judgment against Kos and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. Witnesses testified during an 11-week trial that Kos sexually abused boys from 1981 to 1992 at three Dallas-area churches.

Three of the plaintiffs in that case were accusers in the criminal case.

Lead prosecutor Howard Blackmon had told the jury that life in prison was the only appropriate punishment.

``My gosh, if this defendant doesn't deserve life sentences, then what child molester does? What child molester does?'' Blackmon asked jurors in final Wednesday.

But defense attorney Doug Parks urged leniency for Kos because he is now staying away from young boys and has undergone therapy in California.

``And I guarantee you, ladies and gentlemen, that if you give Rudy Kos an opportunity and he continues down that road, and he himself is healed, you will have done the community a service, you will have done Rudy Kos a service,'' Parks said.