Vermont Supreme Court upholds guilty verdict against priest

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont Supreme Court upheld the conviction Friday of a Greek Orthodox priest accused of fondling a young girl.

The Rev. Emmanuel Koveos, who served as the priest at the Dormition of the Mother of God Church in Burlington from 1993 until he was suspended in 1997, is out on parole after serving about four months of a six-month jail sentence.

Koveos was arrested in January 1997 and charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. He was convicted in District Court last year of committing lewd conduct with the pre-teen child.

Koveos maintained he was innocent and had been framed. Koveos, his wife, Joanna, and his son John, talked about mistakes and possible improper conduct by the judge, jury, defense attorney, police and the victim and her family.

In his appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court, Koveos said he was entitled to a new trial because the foreman of the jury was not a resident of Chittenden County as required by law.

But in a decision written by Justice John Dooley, the Supreme Court on Friday said Koveos had waived that issue “by not raising it prior to the impanelment of the jury.”

Koveos also claimed the court made an error in admitting the videotaped deposition of the elder of the two sisters who were present during the Greek lesson around which the case is based. He said he was denied his right to confront the witness because he was barred from attending the deposition.

But the justices said he should have stated his objections during the trial.

Koveos also said the court made an error when he was not asked to be present during one stage of the trial.

“Defendant emphasizes that he was asked whether he wanted to waive his presence, not the presence of his counsel,” the justices said in their decision. “However, when defense counsel agreed not to be present during the playback, the trial court properly assumed without further inquiry that counsel had consulted with defendant on the matter.”

Koveos’ lawyer is Nathan Z. Dershowitz of New York City, the brother of celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz.