Lahey sentencing postponed again

OTTAWA — Bishop Raymond Lahey will have to wait several more months in jail before his sentencing on charges of importing child pornography.

Already postponed from June to early August, the sentencing hearing will continue into December because the forensic psychiatrist who examined Lahey is not available on the Aug. 4 and 5 dates that have been set aside.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the Crown wants to cross-examine Dr. John Bradford on his sexual behaviours' assessment of the former Antigonish bishop, but he was unavailable for the August dates. An additional day has been added to for his testimony in December to accommodate Bradford's testimony.

An Ottawa police detective will testify at the sentencing hearing on Aug. 4, but the second day has been cancelled and the Bradford portion of the hearing moved to Dec. 19 and 20.

Lahey chose to go directly to jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of importing child pornography. Another charge of possessing child porn for the purposes of distribution was dropped. The bishop, who still faces possible canonical penalties by the Holy See, faces a minimum mandatory one-year sentence and a maximum of 10 years.

Lahey resigned his See shortly after he was flagged for secondary inspection in 2009 at the Ottawa airport and illegal images were found on his laptop computer.