A Massachusetts court today dismissed the criminal case against former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was due to stand trial for sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in 1974, ruling him incompetent to stand trial after experts who they examined and found that he is suffering from dementia.

McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, is the only current or former cardinal to have been charged in the US with sexual abuse of a minor. Two separate criminal charges had been brought against him, in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The case in Dedham, Massachusetts, to be heard by Judge Paul McCallum, was the first: the prosecution was brought in July 2021 and related to three counts of sexual harassment and assault.

Those two cases were the only ones McCarrick faced, despite lawsuits filed by other men accusing him of sexual abuse decades ago. Because of the peculiarity of Massachusetts law, the statute of limitations was tolled because McCarrick, who was not a permanent resident of the State, left the State.

Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests expressed their disappointment at today’s decision. The alleged victim said in a court filing that this will allow McCarrick’s attorneys to state that their client has never been convicted of a crime. “McCarrick goes free and I have nothing,” he wrote.

McCarrick had pleaded not guilty in September 2021. He showed no emotion at today’s hearing, which he participated in via video call from the assisted living facility where he lives in Missouri. His lawyers declined to comment.

McCarrick was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 2019 after the Vatican, in its investigation, found him guilty of sex crimes involving children and adults. In a Vatican report released in November 2020, it is even stated that McCarrick rose to the highest offices of the church despite the rumors circulating about him and that Pope John Paul II promoted him even though he was aware of the accusations.

According to court documents, the alleged victim in the Massachusetts case claimed the priest, who was a family friend, began abusing him when he was still a child.

Two experts, one from each side, testified in court that McCarrick is incompetent to stand trial because he suffers from dementia.