A report has found that Lawrence Hecker, a retired 92-year-old facing charges in New Orleans, suffers from memory loss and recommends re-evaluation at a later date.

A team of forensic psychiatrists has concluded that Lawrence Hecker, a 92-year-old retired Catholic priest accused of strangling a teenager and raping him in a New Orleans church in 1975, suffers from short-term memory loss, hindering his ability to assist in his defense.

Their report, reviewed by WWL Louisiana and the Guardian, suggests that Hecker should not stand trial at this time on charges of rape, kidnapping, crimes against nature, and theft, pending re-evaluation of his condition.

The report found that Hecker's mental health is good enough for him to potentially recover his competence to stand trial after a relatively short period. It recommended re-evaluating him in a matter of months, allowing him time to recover from various physical ailments and receive treatment at the state's mental health hospital.

These mixed conclusions regarding Hecker's legal competence coincide with an upcoming court hearing on May 23, where Dr. Sarah Deland and her team are scheduled to testify about the report's contents. The judge overseeing Hecker's case ordered the evaluation following concerns about his advanced age and hospitalization in January.

Whether Judge Ben Willard adopts the report's findings and recommendations could determine if Hecker faces trial this summer or at a later date. Furthermore, the question of Hecker's longevity is significant, as he turns 93 in September.

While judges often endorse findings like those from Deland and colleagues Janet Johnson and Shelby Buckley, they are not obligated to do so.

A civil lawyer representing the accuser expressed frustration and disgust with the psychiatric report, asserting that Hecker has consistently shown no signs of cognitive impairment. For instance, Hecker conducted an 18-minute interview with the Guardian and WWL Louisiana in hot conditions in August 2023, where he admitted to engaging in sexual acts with multiple underage boys in the 1960s and 1970s, attributing it to the era's "sexual revolution."

"Let’s hope this isn’t the final word,” attorney Richard Trahant said in a statement Tuesday. “Because it would be the tragic result of a serial child rapist being coddled and enabled by the archdiocese of New Orleans for many decades.”

Following a recent hearing in the case, district attorney Jason Williams told reporters that Hecker was “malingering” – or feigning mental illness to avoid trial. Neither his office, Hecker’s lawyers nor Willard commented when asked on Tuesday.

In the report, Deland and her team described how Hecker spoke at a normal rate and maintained good eye contact during their 40-minute evaluation on April 4. He correctly identified the president as Joe Biden, knew Baton Rouge and Washington DC were the capitals of Louisiana and the US respectively, and accurately named the current archbishop of New Orleans.

However, Hecker struggled with word recall, forgetting all three terms given to him to remember after three minutes. Doctors concluded that this short-term memory loss compromised Hecker’s ability to assist his lawyers in his defense, a key factor for establishing mental competency for trial.

The doctors wrote that Hecker’s cognitive status could potentially improve with time and treatment, recommending that he be placed on a list for transfer to the state’s forensic psychiatry hospital before undergoing re-evaluation in a few months.

In January, Hecker was rushed to the hospital with delirium, three months after being arrested and jailed. Records from a month-long hospital stay from January 9 to February 9 indicated that a urinary tract infection and a bout with Covid brought on the delirium, according to the doctors.

Trahant, the lawyer for the alleged victim central to the prosecution against Hecker, stated that his client immediately reported the priest to the high school principal at the time, Paul Calamari. It later emerged that Calamari, now a retired priest, faced credible child molestation allegations himself.

Trahant alleged that Calamari failed to report Hecker’s alleged crime, although the school provided psychiatric care to the accuser.

Hecker denied raping Trahant’s client. However, in 1999, he admitted in a written statement to church leaders that he had molested or sexually harassed several children he met through his work as a priest. Despite this admission, the church allowed Hecker to remain in ministry until his retirement in 2002, allowing him to collect full benefits until the New Orleans archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020.

The archdiocese did not publicly disclose Hecker as a suspected abuser until releasing a list of over 50 credibly accused clergy in 2018, without mentioning that he had already admitted to being a molester by then.

Trahant’s client reported Hecker to the police in June 2022. Subsequently, in September of the following year, shortly after his extensive interview with WWL and the Guardian, Williams’s office secured a grand jury indictment charging Hecker in the case.

If convicted, Hecker would face a mandatory life sentence in prison.