Ex-priest may not
be prosecuted

The Oahu man is accused of
sex assault in a Michigan case

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Associated Press

DETROIT >> An 82-year-old former priest, whom the Wayne County prosecutor has called one of the worst pedophiles in Michigan, may never be forced to leave his home in Hawaii to stand trial on the mainland.

Robert Burkholder is one of four current or former Roman Catholic priests who formerly worked in the Archdiocese of Detroit who were charged with criminal sexual conduct.

Burkholder, who lives in Leeward Oahu, was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 13-year-old boy from St. Robert's Parish in Wayne County's Redford Township.

Burkholder, in an interview in Hawaii after the charges were announced, denied the accusations against him, calling them "ridiculous and cruel."

His lawyer, Irving Tukel of Bingham Farms, said Burkholder has dementia. Tukel said he planned to ask for a competency examination in Hawaii, a move that Wayne County prosecutors are not contesting.

"It is apparent to anyone who has had any contact with Rev. Burkholder that he is in dementia," Tukel told the Detroit Free Press.

"The people who deal with him on a daily basis in Hawaii have said so. These people have no reason to fabricate. They're just neighbors who look in on him as an elderly man who needs help."

Tukel said he planned to argue that his client should not be prosecuted because of his mental condition.

Burkholder lives by himself in Hawaii, Tukel said. He gets lost while driving and cannot hold coherent conversations, Tukel said.

Kevin Simowski, chief of operations for the prosecutor's office, said his office has asked for an extradition hearing in Hawaii.

Burkholder moved to Hawaii in 1981 after serving in the Archdiocese of Detroit for 34 years.

Starting in 1982, Burkholder began working on Oahu as a contract military chaplain at the Army's Schofield Barracks and also held Masses at St. Elizabeth in Aiea, but was not parish priest and never joined the Hawaii diocese, according to the Catholic Diocese of Hawaii.

Last month, Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan said he was able to bring charges against the four because they all moved out of the state years ago before the statute of limitations expired on criminal charges.