Our modern times are filled with the ills of priests, and media reports showcase the latest man of the cloth who was arrested, who molested, or who just was found to do sordid things. But in latter days of the 20th century, those secrets were just building beneath the surface. At that time, we will still profoundly influenced by religion and the Catholic Church.
Coal region towns had a bar and church on every corner. Their inhabitants showed devotion to both buildings.
No different in the town of Ashland, PA.. In 1990, there were two major Catholic Churches still active and busy with filled pews on Sundays and standing room only on Easter and Christmas!
That is why a crime that took place in the fall of that year was so shocking to the town, the diocese, and national news sources that covered the event.
THE DAY OF REST, THE DAY OF HORROR: SUNDAY SHOOTING
On Tuesday, September 18, 1990, various news sources began reporting on the murder of Ashland priest Father Leo Heineman..
Police said Heineman, pastor of St. Mauritius Church in Ashland, was killed Sunday night by David Graham Stewart Jr., … news reports initially said that the priest was murdered “while trying to settle a domestic squabble between Stewart and his wife of six months.”
Stewart, of Nescopeck, apparently gunned down Heineman at the age of 59 with a single shot from a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver while his wife, Mardell Rita looked on from the living room of their house.. At the time, Columbia County District Attorney Scott Naus said Mrs. Stewart invited the priest, a friend of hers, to their Mifflin Twp. home during the squabble. Officials said that her husband did not want Heineman at the home.
The Allentown MORNING CALL interviewed then another Ashland priest on the murder:
Rev. Joseph H. Kean, pastor of St. Joseph’s R.C. Church, the only other Catholic parish in town, remembered Heineman helping him through tough times. “I was down and out a few times, and he helped me through,” he said. “As a brother priest, he was my best buddy.” Kean said he and Heineman used to talk professionally, trying to find the best way to deal with people. “We used to rap a lot,” Kean said. “We would play devil’s advocate with handling different situations.” When dealing with people, Heineman expected nothing but honesty, Kean said. “He would do anything for you as long as you were honest, genuine and sincere,” he said. “He did not like phony people because he was not a phony.”
Priests and mourners filled St. Mauritius’ church for Heineman’s funeral. Newspaper reports at the time stated that 500 were there, along with 125 priests in white. Then Bishop Welsh was quoted that priests were being viewed in a negative light due to ‘human weakness’ but the outpouring of emotion was heartwarming for him to see. Another priest, Thomas Edwards, eulogized Heineman and said to forgive the accused killer who was then sitting in prison…
BUT 500!? OR 300???
BY the way, even in 1990, we see a good example of fake news. Which do you believe!? The Allentown Morning call stating that 500 mourned Heineman, or the Pottsville REPUBLICAN that reported 300!?
PRE-TRIAL AND TRIBULATION
During years prior to the trial. Stewart’s defense attorney Michael Dennehy tried to get records on Leo Heineman from the Diocese of Allentown. At least one letter to the editor that appeared in June 1991 applauded the denial, saying releasing them would be a crime in itself.
In 1994, Superior Court ruled that the Diocese had to give the documents over–something unheard of at that time but normal in our modern age.
The Diocese finally agreed in 1997 to release.. that cleared the way for the trial of David Stewart.
THE TRIAL
It took years before the actual trial went to court, and a jury decision. The Catholic Church itself caused this. They fought endlessly to keep documents on Heineman secret until finally losing in court.
By the point when Stewart was on trial for murder, three strokes and health issues forced him into a wheelchair.
A State Trooper was called to the stand to testify that he was called to Stewart’s home the night of the shooting. He said he tried to calm the men down–then left!! Even more, there were other previous reports of Heineman going to the house, but State Police did not evict him because Stewart’s wife wanted him at the home.
Defense attorneys for the accused killer David Stewart argued that Father Heineman was drunk and angry when he arrived at the home. Defense attorney Michael Dennehy presented a Lehigh Valley forensic pathologist as a witness who testified that Heineman had a blood-alcohol count of .21 to .23 when he died.
David Stewart himself also testified during his trial. Stewart said that Heineman “looked like a beast.” Stewart testified that he grabbed his gun as defense and the priest “dared Stewart to shoot.” Stewart pulled the trigger..
Dennehy’s final argument to the jury was that Heineman was an “ugly drunk,” and that “beer bravery” caused the event. Defense also presented James Quail, a Nescopeck handyman, who testified that Stewart’s wife at the time said that she was having an affair with the Catholic priest. Mardell Rita denied those accusations.
THE VERDICT
On what would have been the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Leo I. Heineman’s ordination, a jury convicted elderly Stewart of manslaughter on Friday May 15, 1998.
The Columbia County jury, which included two Catholics, deliberated just 45 minutes before convicting David G. Stewart Jr, but cleared him of premeditated murder.
The Allentown MORNING CALL reported this,
Moments after the verdict was announced, Stewart said he still believes he was justified to kill Heineman. “I thought they would find me not guilty, period,” Stewart said. Stewart said that if he could, he would change the circumstances that led to the shooting.
“If I had been physically able, I would have never let him in my home,” said Stewart..
The MORNING CALL went on to report more about the secret Diocese file..
To bolster his case, Stewart’s attorney, Michael Dennehy of Danville, Montour County, fought the Allentown Diocese for seven years to get Heineman’s personnel file. The state Supreme Court last year ordered the diocese to turn over the file. Lawyers determined the file contained nothing relevant to the night of the crime, and there was no reference to it during the trial. But the file contains a letter Heineman sent to the diocese’s then-bishop, the Rev. Thomas Welsh, thanking him for putting Heineman into an alcohol rehabilitation center. It also contained an anonymous letter to the bishop that complained about Heineman’s erratic behavior. In all, there were five pages about Heineman’s 30 years with the diocese, which included stops at churches in Allentown, Reading, Tamaqua, Weatherly and Pottsville.
THE SENTENCING
By June 27, 1998, it was finished.
Then 78-year-old Stewart was sentenced was sentenced to prison.
AFTERMATH
The Heineman story made national news when it occurred. In 2013, it did again in retrospect when the LA TIMES profiled important events that led to Catholic Church sex abuse secrets being revealed. They reported this:
In Pennsylvania, it was an accused septuagenarian murderer who sought the secret files. The man, David Stewart, had shot and killed a priest whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife. He demanded the Rev. Leo Heineman’s records to prove he had fired the gun in self-defense. After a seven-year battle that went to the state Supreme Court, the church was ordered in 1997 to turn over the file. In it was a letter regarding the priest’s alcohol treatment and an anonymous letter about his erratic behavior, according to local reports. Stewart was convicted the following year of manslaughter but cleared of premeditated murder.
And in that church was a memory of Father Heieneman.. lost in the dust of a building being demolished….
Inscribed on the bottom: “For when the great scorer comes to mark against your name, it matters not, if you won lost, but how you played the game.”
