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Prosecutors no longer pursuing retired priest’s case

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May 9th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A defense attorney says Iowa prosecutors have decided not to challenge a court decision overturning the conviction of a retired Catholic priest accused of invading the privacy of students in a western Iowa High School bathroom. The Iowa Appeals Court last week overturned the Rev. Paul Monahan’s conviction on five counts of invasion of privacy. Monahan’s attorney, Dan McGinn, told The Daily Nonpareil that he was informed Friday, that the Iowa attorney general’s office wouldn’t pursue a further review. The office spokesman, Lynn Hicks, said Wednesday that the case didn’t meet criteria for an appeal.

The Iowa Sex Offender Registry no longer lists Monahan, who’d been ordered to register as part of his sentence.The Appeals Court said in its decision that the students had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public bathroom at Treynor High School.