SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A jury has acquitted a former priest of charges he sexually abused a first-grade student more than 30 years ago.
Marvin Archuleta, 82, was cleared of both charges including criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13 and attempting to commit kidnapping.
Archuleta was assigned to a school in Santa Cruz in the mid-1980s, but his defense attorney argued that he was not in New Mexico at the time of the alleged assault during the 1986-87 school year. He said he was assigned to a parish in Silver Springs, Maryland, at the time.
Prosecutors argued that Archuleta was there and they attempted to use a newspaper article proving he conducted a funeral in the area at the time.
Archuleta declined to comment following the jury’s verdict.
“I think the evidence was clear Marvin Archuleta was in Maryland the entire time of the alleged victim’s first year (in school). There wasn’t any evidence to the contrary, and frankly the story just didn’t add up,” Archuleta’s attorney Ryan Villa said.
The case started when the accuser, who is now 40, sued after disclosing the abuse to his parents in 2016. Villa said that at the time, the man could not remember his abuser.
The man identified Archuleta after his attorney showed him a photo of the priest. Villa said it was taken before the alleged crimes and showed Archuleta to be much younger.
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