In an attempt to mislead parishioners and the public and clear them of wrongdoing in hiring a priest who plead guilty to a sexual offense, the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is circulating the priest’s “expungement document.”
In this document, Fr. Jose Alexis Davila’s record of unlawful sexual touching is expunged. It is dated in 2015, after Davila should have completed the terms of his three-year probation.
What is an expungement?
An expungement document gives a person convicted of a crime a “fresh start.” It allows a person who was punished for an offense to tell prospective employers that they have not been convicted of a crime.
It is NOT a “Certificate of actual innocence,” which is a document stating that the actual crime didn’t happen.
Usually, a certificate of expungement is a part of a plea agreement: offender agrees to plead guilty, avoids trial, and is granted an expungement after probation is served.
Why is this expungement irrelevant?
This expungement is irrelevant because Davila is a priest who works with children and vulnerable adults. He is not an accountant, a warehouse worker, or a plumber.
As a priest, Davila should not only be held to a higher standard, but he is also subject to ZERO TOLERANCE and promised by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He plead guilty to a sex crime. He should not work in a parish. Period.
Remember what prosecutors said he did:
Skeels told Commissioner Corinne Miesfeld that the defendant is accused of touching the victim in three areas against her will on Dec. 30. He touched her buttocks, put his finger in her vagina and touched her left breast, the prosecutor alleged.
Police said the alleged assault happened at Davila’s home in Southcrest while the two were alone. The defendant turned himself in two days later.
Call it what it was. It was sexuall assault.The Diocese and the Parish knew his history and purposely and knowingly failed to disclose it to the parishioners who had an absolute right to know. In Oklahoma that conduct by a teacher draws a ten year sentence. (State of Oklahoma v. Brian Drabeck, Tulsa County 2014). Shameful.
Some people are saying that what he did isn’t a crime because the victim was 19 years old, like adults are never victims of sexual assault, especially adult females, who presumably can’t be raped because they “ask for it” all the time. So people are dismissing his crime as though it wasn’t a crime at all because 19-year-old, not a child. Rape can happen to anyone of any gender and of any age (even old people in nursing homes, another extremely underreported *crime*). A male friend was raped by a man while in college. He was not a minor, yet a *crime* was committed against him. There is no dividing line between sexual assault against children equal crime while sexual assault against adults is not equal to a crime. I wish people would get this straight!!!
He should be removed from the priesthood.