LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Supreme Court has decided not review an appeal by a Catholic priest convicted of abusing a boy in Meade County in the 1970s.
Fr. Joseph Hemmerle had appealed his 2016 conviction to the state Court of Appeals, which ruled in January that his conviction and sentence on a charge of "indecent or immoral practices" with a child should stand.
Hemmerle then asked the Kentucky Supreme Court for the review.
In the appeal, Hemmerle's attorney had argued in part that Hemmerle never performed an "indecent act" on the victim and that prosecutors did not prove Hemmerle had intent to abuse the victim.
Attorneys for the state had argued intent is not an element of the crime and that a jury found Hemmerle guilty based on sufficient evidence.
Meade Circuit Court Judge Bruce Butler sentenced Hemmerle to seven years in prison in the case.
Hemmerle is serving an additional two years after he signed an Alford plea in a separate abuse case.
Hemmerle is now 77 years old.
Kentucky online offender records show he is eligible for parole in February 2020.
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