A judge has ordered the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese to turn over the secret personnel files of priests accused of sexual abusing children and rejected arguments that prosecutors were violating the U.S. Constitution by interfering with church business.
Retired Superior Court Judge Thomas Nuss ruled in a decision made public Wednesday that disclosing internal Archdiocese of Los Angeles documents on sex abuse to government investigators doesn't hinder the church's ability to practice religion as protected by the First Amendment.
"I find that the issuance of the grand jury subpoenas does not have as a principal or primary effect the inhibition of religion," he wrote.
The archdiocese did not adequately show that the disclosure of the secret documents "would be an improper interference or entanglement with religion," Nuss added.
The documents in question are considered key in the two-year grand jury investigation because they could contain evidence dealing with sexual abuse allegations made against priests. Lawyers for an estimated 500 alleged sexual abuse victims who have filed lawsuits against the church contend the papers may reveal steps the archdiocese took to protect pedophile priests.
Archdiocese officials discounted the ruling, saying it applied to just two priests and 80 documents. They also strongly indicated they would appeal Nuss' order, which could stretch out the dispute for years.
"This is not over," noted Deputy District Attorney Brent Ferreira.
District Attorney Steve Cooley has battled for 27 months with Cardinal Roger Mahony, who heads the archdiocese, over the documents and praised Nuss's decision Wednesday.
"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," Cooley said in a prepared statement.
Prosecutors have argued that "assertion of the pastoral privilege must give way to a more compelling interest. That interest is the prosecution of anyone, regardless of their status, who would molest children," Cooley said.
"Our intention is to gather evidence wherever it exists," he added.
Archdiocese officials said they were disappointed with Nuss' decision, saying it was contrary to a ruling last year in Ventura County that found such records could be kept confidential.
They said Nuss was incorrect in comparing church efforts to conduct internal investigations into alleged sexual misconduct by clergy with any employer looking into wrongdoing on its staff.
"We believe that Judge Nuss' ruling is novel, is inconsistent with the ruling of the Ventura County Superior Court and should be considered by a higher court," said Don Woods, counsel to the archdiocese.
They also said the judge has already rejected 28 of 30 subpoenas on clergy files based on the priests' privacy rights.
Cooley's office has subpoenaed about 2,000 pages of records since 2002. But a number of cases were scuttled last year after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a California law that erased the statute of limitations in molestation cases.
While Woods maintained the number of documents at stake in Nuss' order was roughly 80, Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman said he believed it affected 800 pages that could contain the names of witnesses, alleged victims and possible admissions of guilt.
Hodgman said the document battle mirrored last year's crisis in the Boston archdiocese. A judge there ordered the release of personnel records that showed clergy officials protected pedophile priests. Cardinal Bernard Law later resigned.
Hodgman said the Los Angeles archdiocese has fought his office's efforts to obtain the documents "as mightily as they can. They have used the full extent of the law to buy an awful lot of time with regard to this investigation."
Mahony has been under fire since allegations of abuse surfaced in 2002.
The cardinal once said he wanted information about the allegations made public, but archdiocese lawyers have vigorously fought to keep church documents under wraps. The archdiocese's legal tactics even drew criticism from an independent Catholic national review board, saying it was harming the church's image.
In March, Mahony told parishioners that the sexual abuse crisis has been "very difficult" on him and he deemed it his cross to bear.