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The Rev. Joseph Towle

By Phil Hirschkorn
CNN Producer

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A man convicted in a 1987 killing is asking for a new trial, based on a Catholic priest's testimony that another teen-age boy admitted guilt.

The appeal by Jose Morales is being heard by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and is raising questions about when someone's communication with clergy is confidential.

A state jury convicted Morales and codefendant Ruben Montalvo in 1989 of stabbing and beating Jose Rivera to death in a south Bronx park. But the Rev. Joseph Towle says another teen-age boy, Jesus Fornes, told him before their sentencing that they were innocent. According to Towle, Fornes said he and two other boys were responsible for the Rivera murder.

VIDEO An appeal of a New York murder case hinges on a confession made to a Catholic priest. CNN's Jason Carroll reports (July 18) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Fornes, who would have been 16 or 17 at the time of his confession, was himself shot to death in 1997.

Towle, 65, a priest at St. Athanasius church in the Bronx, had met all the boys involved in the case after he became the parish priest in 1984.

"I used to insinuate myself into the lives of many people on the street," Towle told U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in a hearing Monday.

Towle said he knew Fornes well. "I instructed him to make his first communion," he said.

Two courts have denied appeals

Chin has until July 27 to decide whether to grant Morales, 30, and Montalvo, 31, a new trial. They are serving sentences of 15 years to life, after state courts denied their appeals. The key evidence now is the statement Towle said Fornes made to him two years after the crime occurred.

Morales, who was convicted of murder

"Jesus Fornes called me to his home and on that occasion he said that he was upset because two of the members of his group had been accused of the murder and he informed me quite clearly that they were not present and that they were not involved," Towle testified.

Chin asked, "Was he confessing, was he having a heart-to-heart talk with you?"

"It was a heart-to-heart talk where he was feeling very badly that two of his friends had been accused and convicted of something which he had done, and it was his desire to do something to make the truth appear and he wanted to make public the fact that he was responsible and they were not," Towle said.

Chin asked if Fornes came to him looking for advice and guidance.

"He was asking me what he should do, and at that time I told him that if he had the courage and the heart to do it, that he should go to the court and that he should acknowledge that he was responsible and the others were not," Towle testified.

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Attorneys associated with the case said Fornes did speak to a public defender, who advised him to stay silent. He later talked to lawyers for the convicted men.

Towle said he did not consider what Fornes told him a formal confession, but a confidential conversation.

"If it was a formal confession, I would not be able to say a single word," Towle said.

Towle did, however, say he granted Fornes absolution, or "pardon in the name of God for the things that he had done wrong."

Priest believes teens claim

Before agreeing to testify, Towle consulted with the legal department of the Archdiocese of New York.

"If someone were to come to a Catholic priest and to confess to a murder in a confessional situation, which is between that person and God -- using myself in this case as a medium -- there is nothing absolutely that I could say, ever," Towle said.

Towle told the court Fornes admitted that he participated in the Rivera killing, and that he had no doubt Fornes was telling the truth.

Jeffrey Pittell, an attorney representing Morales, said his client has been in jailed 13 years, since he was 17, for a crime he did not commit.

Pittell, who defended Morales.

"He's never lost faith in the case, never lost faith in his innocence, and he is hoping one day justice will prevail," Pittell said in a interview with CNN.

"I can't understand why the (District Attorney) didn't hear about this, why they didn't voluntarily dismiss this case," Pittell said. "I can only surmise that they felt they had their testimony, they had their conviction, the last thing they wanted was to have their conviction vacated," he said.

State argues talk was privileged

In court papers, Assistant District Attorney Allen Karen argued that the conversation between Fornes and Towle was a confession that cannot be judged by the court. "Jesus Fornes believed his confession was secret and privileged and could never be revealed by his priest."

The Rev. Tom Reese, editor of the national Catholic weekly "America," told CNN that confession confidentiality is one of the most sacred obligations taught in seminary training.

"The church doesn't want anybody to stay away from the sacrament -- and the opportunity for forgiveness of his sins -- because of fear the priest might reveal what he heard," Reese said.

A priest could be excommunicated for violating the church tenet. "If the priest does break the seal of confession, that has to go all the way to Rome for forgiveness."

Reese said if Towle consulted with the archdiocese and "they gave ... a green light, then I respect their evaluation of the situation."

A 1997 decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals (Mockaitis v. Harcleroad) upheld the confidentiality of sacramental law. In that case, a Portland, Oregon, jail had taped a conversation between the Rev. Tim Mockaitis and a suspect in a triple homicide.