The Fighting Priest

Two career criminals were counting on the generosity of St. Catherine's parishioners that Easter Sunday in 1961 and they were right; folks had filled the church's collection baskets with their hard-earned money. However, not content with the supposedly thousands of dollars sitting in the rectory that evening, the crooks decided to steal the silverware as well.

 

Denver, Colorado's Right Reverend Monsignor Delisle A. Lemieux, aged 58, heard the racket coming from the dining room and ran in there to investigate. Leaving nothing to chance, this was a tough neighborhood and burglaries were commonplace, Lemieux grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and a .32 caliber handgun. He told the burglars to stand fast and "don't move or I'll shoot" but when they lunged at him, Lemieux pulled the trigger of the shotgun and down went Richard Eugene Sanders, aged 27.

Sander's accomplice and Lemieux wrestled for ownership of the shotgun before the intruder made a break for it. Lemieux threw the shotgun to the ground and fired three rounds from his revolver at the fleeing man. He was pretty sure the third shot hit it's target but the man made it out of the rectory and had sped away in a waiting vehicle.



Richard Eugene Sanders

Monsigner Lemieux, I suppose preparing to offer last rites to Sanders, asked the dying man if he was a Catholic. Sanders shook his head "No" and then passed out. He would die on the operating table from the wound to his abdomen.
Lemieux was quoted as saying, "I never meant to kill him. I aimed low and he walked right into it. It's been a nightmare."

Ten days later, on April 13, the FBI arrested, without incident, John Joseph Thornbrugh, aged 29, at a bar in Fresno, California. He had a bullet wound to his left leg, as Lemieux suspected.

On April 18, 1961, as a mere formality, Monsignor Lemieux was charged with murder. He pled "not guilty" and was immediately acquitted by Judge Joseph Cook in a "directed verdict." This ruling is appropriate when it is believed by the court that a jury could come to no other decision.

According to newspaper reports of the time, District Attorney Bert Keating intended to charge Thornbrugh with burglary and also murder in the first degree since Sander's death occurred during the commission of a felony.

Unfortunately, that is where the story ends for me (and now you) because I've found no articles following that announcement and it would cost me a minimum of $30 to access Thornbrugh's prison records. I'm guessing there was no actual trial and Thornbrugh took a deal.

Monsignor Lemieux continued on at St. Catherine's until his retirement, in either 1966 or 1967. He died on October 22, 1977 at the age of 75.