George Chaanine 52-year-old priest is accused of attacking woman on Jan. 26

A Roman Catholic priest pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he beat and sexually assaulted a female soloist at a Southern Nevada parish office.

No bail was set for the Rev. George Chaanine, 52, who has been jailed in Las Vegas since his return last month from Arizona. He was arrested Feb. 1 near Phoenix after nearly a week on the run.

A court hearing master, Kevin Williams, accepted Chaanine's plea and set a date March 22 for Clark County District Judge Michelle Leavitt to schedule a trial and consider bail.

Chaanine faces a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted of seven felony charges including attempted murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and battery in the Jan. 26 attack at the Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church office.

A Las Vegas judge on Feb. 27 bound him over for trial in state court after gripping testimony from Chaanine's accuser, a 54-year-old former Strip singer and church employee.

She said Chaanine hit her on the head with a wine bottle, groped her and choked her until she began praying and he suddenly stopped and fled.

Defense lawyers Jeff Banks and Scott Coffee, deputy Clark County public defenders, said outside court Thursday that they intend to show the woman and Chaanine had a romantic relationship.

"Relationships are a two-way street. They always are," Coffee said. "That's what we're finding in this case."

Prosecutors Lisa Luzaich and Mary Kay Holthus declined comment about the case outside court.

The woman and her daughter testified that Chaanine seemed obsessed with wooing the woman. They said the priest, who began work at Our Lady of Las Vegas in 2004, showered her with gifts, meals and attention, and traveled alone with her to the Grand Canyon and other places.

The daughter, who also worked in the church office, said that two days before the attack, Chaanine's demeanor changed. She testified that he made a motion toward his head with his hand in the shape of a gun and said he intended to send her mother "to heaven."

The woman, who was hospitalized and received 20 surgical staples to close gashes in her head after the attack, said she was hit from behind and dragged across the office before Chaanine groped and choked her.

She said she became unconscious and awoke with him atop her and choking her. She said she prayed for her life before he stopped and said he was going to get a gun to kill himself. He did not return.

The woman declined comment Thursday through her lawyer, who said she was angered by characterizations that she and Chaanine had a romantic relationship.

"There's an implication that there was a man-woman relationship," lawyer Robert Massi said. "That's outrageous. It was nothing more than a relationship between her and a priest as friends, as he was with all the other women in the offices where they worked."

The Diocese of Las Vegas is not paying for Chaanine's defense. He has been suspended with pay from his role as administrator at the parish, in a neighborhood northwest of the Strip.

Chaanine, a native of Lebanon, was ordained in 1996 in the Eastern Catholic Maronite church. The diocese said he worked in Detroit; Youngstown, Ohio; Wheeling, W.Va.; and El Paso, Texas, before moving to Las Vegas.