A jury of eight women and four men in Texas began deliberating a verdict on Friday afternoon in the trial of a Roman Catholic priest charged with illegally exploiting his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with female parishioners to whom he was providing spiritual direction. Anthony Odiong, 57, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second degree involving two women, each of whom testified during a trial that began with jury selection on Tuesday in the Texas city of Waco. He could face life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree charge. A conviction on the second-degree charges could carry between two and 20 years in prison. Odiong had initially been charged with first-degree sexual assault of a third woman. But prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice dismissed that aspect of the case after the woman – said to be in an “extremely emotionally fragile” state – failed to show up to her expected appearance on the witness stand.…