Judge acquits Legion priests in abuse-linked extortion case

ROME (AP) — A judge in Milan has acquitted five members of the Legion of Christ religious order and their lawyers of attempted extortion in a case in which they were accused of offering to pay the family of a sexual abuse victim to lie to prosecutors.Four of the five were also absolved of obstruction of justice because the statute of limitations expired, while a fifth was acquitted outright, the lawyer for the victim’s family said.  The investigation was an offshoot of a case in which Italy’s highest court last year upheld the conviction and 6 1/2-year prison sentence for a defrocked Legion priest, Vladimir Resendiz, for sexually abusing boys at the Legion’s youth seminary in northern Italy.