Former Manteca Bulletin and Turlock Journal publisher T. Paul Mahony entered a plea of not
guilty to a single charge of sexual battery through his attorney in a Manteca courtroom Tuesday afternoon. Mahony was not present at the 1:30 p.m. court session.
Attorney Joel Perisho asked the judge to continue the proceedings to April 19 when a pretrial conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The Stockton attorney said he, Mahony and the judge need to sit down and confer on the case next month before it is scheduled for trial.
Mahony is charged with misdemeanor sexual battery against a female employee at the Manteca newspaper. According to the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charge, Mahony is accused of fondling the 43-year-old woman.
Sexual battery is defined in the California Penal Code as: “Any person who touches an intimate part of another person while that person is unlawfully restrained... and if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse.”
A misdemeanor conviction carries a maximum punishment of one year in county jail.
Mahony also supervised operations in Oakdale, Ceres, Ripon, Riverbank and Escalon.
Morris Multimedia Corporation of Savanah, Ga. — parent company of the newspapers — announced Mahony’s dismissal on Feb. 10.
guilty to a single charge of sexual battery through his attorney in a Manteca courtroom Tuesday afternoon. Mahony was not present at the 1:30 p.m. court session.
Attorney Joel Perisho asked the judge to continue the proceedings to April 19 when a pretrial conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The Stockton attorney said he, Mahony and the judge need to sit down and confer on the case next month before it is scheduled for trial.
Mahony is charged with misdemeanor sexual battery against a female employee at the Manteca newspaper. According to the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charge, Mahony is accused of fondling the 43-year-old woman.
Sexual battery is defined in the California Penal Code as: “Any person who touches an intimate part of another person while that person is unlawfully restrained... and if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse.”
A misdemeanor conviction carries a maximum punishment of one year in county jail.
Mahony also supervised operations in Oakdale, Ceres, Ripon, Riverbank and Escalon.
Morris Multimedia Corporation of Savanah, Ga. — parent company of the newspapers — announced Mahony’s dismissal on Feb. 10.
