Lawyer says accuser can't be believed in Philadelphia abuse trial involving priest, ex-teacher

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2012 file photo, Rev. Charles Engelhardt walks from the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. Engelhardt is set to go on trial Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, on charges he raped an altar boy in northeast Philadelphia in the late 1990s. Engelhardt has pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This is an undated file photo provided by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office of Bernard G. Shero. Shero is set to go on trial, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, on charges he raped an altar boy in northeast Philadelphia in the late 1990s. Shero has pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, File) (The Associated Press)

PHILADELPHIA – A defense lawyer for a priest charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy says the Philadelphia accuser has never told the same story twice.

Defense lawyer Michael McGovern represents the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, who went on trial Monday along with former teacher Bernard Shero.

McGovern says people now look at priests in clerical collars and "see a bull's-eye" — because they hope to get money by suing the church.

Engelhardt and Shero are charged with sexually assaulting the now 24-year-old man at St. Jerome's Parish in northeast Philadelphia in 1999. They have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say the accuser's story will be corroborated by a defrocked priest.

McGovern says the accuser has led a life damaged by drug addiction and petty crimes, and can't be believed.