L.A. archdiocese ordered to provide sensitive documents in sex cases
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The Roman Catholic archdiocese cannot withhold evidence or proof of a crime by arguing that communications between priests and bishops are confidential, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled.
The ruling dealt with information subpoenaed by a 2002 grand jury investigating two possible sexual abuse crimes by priests.
An appeal is expected by the lawyers representing the priests, and the archdiocese also will appeal within the required 30 days, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said.
"We are pleased that the court sustained many of the objections of the archdiocese to the production of portions of the remaining two files," Don Woods, attorney for the archdiocese, said in a statement.
The vast majority of the documents subject to objections asserted by the archdiocese do not have to be produced. Tamberg said the ruling applies to 80 pages, compared to the thousands retired Judge Thomas Nuss was required to review. Nuss had been appointed by the court as a referee.
"The ruling is a major legal victory, with national implications, for victims of church sex abuse and a rejection of a so-called First Amendment 'confidentiality privilege,' which the court found does not exist," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley wrote in a statement.
He said his office has sought the priests' records for 27 months through the grand jury.
"Our intention is to gather evidence wherever it exists," he wrote.
Cooley, whose attorneys held a news conference after the ruling, said his office had been involved in ongoing litigation over archdiocese records since April 2002, arguing that assertion of pastoral privilege must give way to a "more compelling interest."
He said he has urged Cardinal Roger Mahony to "heed the admonitions" of the National Review Board of Catholic laypeople and immediately instruct his lawyers to make all evidence available.
There are about 520 civil cases pending in Los Angeles related to sexual abuse allegations against priests, Tamberg said.
