An American Indian medicine man has the same rights as other clergy to keep confessions confidential, a federal judge ruled.
But the judge said those rights don't apply in the case of a murder suspect who wants to suppress statements he made to Apache medicine man Robert Cervantes, because the suspect wasn't seeking spiritual help. Further, Cervantes told a third person about the conversation, Judge Marcia Krieger said.
The decision was believed to be the first federal court ruling to address whether Indian spiritual leaders have the same protection as priests.
The ruling came in the case of Carlos Herrera, 40, charged with second-degree murder in the 2001 slaying of Brenda Chavez, a former lover.
Courts have previously said medicine men have the same prison visitation rights as other clergy, said Walter Echo-Hawk, a staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder.
But he believes this is the first time the courts have said medicine men enjoy the same right as other clergy to keep confessions secret.
Cervantes, 37, is recognized by the Jicarilla Apache Tribe as a traditional shaman or medicine man.
Defense attorney Robert Duthie said the FBI used information from Cervantes to obtain a videotaped confession from Herrera. Herrera's case is in federal court because both he and the victim are Southern Utes.
Herrera disappeared for several days about the time Chavez vanished, later telling investigators he had been taking care of "religious things" with Cervantes.
"There is no evidence that the defendant requested a ceremony or blessing, that he presented Robert Cervantes with tobacco to signify the spiritual nature of his role, or that a ceremony or blessing addressing the defendant's misdeed was ever performed," Krieger's decision said.
In a court filing, Cervantes wrote: "Carlos Herrera confidentially told me about the murder of Brenda Chavez on Feb. 9, 2001, and these statements were related to me as a medicine man. I was unaware that I could assert a confidential privilege."
Duthie said he was "very pleased" the judge recognized a medicine man as clergy.
"She found the privilege existed but that it did not apply to my client," he said.