Criminal
Jun. 20, 2002
Archdiocese Delivers Sex-Abuse Documents
LOS ANGELES - After more than three months of delays that culminated in grand jury subpoenas, the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese on Tuesday turned over documents it has collected on three current or former priests accused of sexual abuse.
"I took the documents over to the grand jury, and that's all there is to it," archdiocese lawyer John McNicholas of McNicholas & McNicholas said.
As many as 30 current or former priests from the Los Angeles Archdiocese are said to be under investigation by local authorities. More grand jury subpoenas are expected, law enforcement sources have said.
Also Tuesday, Donald H. Steier, lawyer for the priests, said he followed through with a threat and filed court papers asking a judge to bar the district attorney from seeing the documents.
"It's in the process now, and they'll be some judicial review, and that's the way it ought to be," Steier said.
Superior Court Judge Dan T. Oki set a date to hear Steier's motion to quash the documents. Pat Kelly, spokeswoman for the court, declined to say when the hearing would take place, citing grand jury secrecy rules.
District attorney officials also cited secrecy rules in declining to discuss the documents.
"We're not able to comment on this," Joseph Scott, spokesman for Cooley, said.
Since March, District Attorney Steve Cooley repeatedly has ordered the archdiocese to turn over all the documents it has on sexual abuse by current or former priests under its control. State law requires that allegations of sexual abuse be reported to local authorities.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony insisted he was complying with the law although he had not turned over any documents. At first, Mahony said he was trying to protect the privacy of the priests' accusers. Later, the cardinal blamed Steier, saying the lawyer threatened to sue the archdiocese if it turned over confidential files.
Last week, the district attorney successful sought grand jury subpoenas to force the archdiocese to turn over all documents it had on Michael Stephen Baker and Michael Wempe, both retired, and the Rev. David Granadino, an Azusa-based priest who was placed on leave earlier this year after sexual abuse allegations surfaced against him.
Baker left the ministry in 2000, after the archdiocese agreed to pay $1.3 million to two of his victims. The former priest has said he told Mahony and McNicholas in 1986 that he has sexually abuse young boys.
Baker said the cardinal refused to notify authorities then and did not boot him out of the church. Wempe was sent to work at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center without hospital officials being told that he was accused of sexual abuse 14 years ago. Wempe was forced into early retirement earlier this year.
The Catholic Church has been pummeled this year by allegations that it allowed clergy accused of sexual abuse to remain in the ministry, repeatedly shuffling them from parish to parish without informing the lay members. Last week, the bishops met in Dallas and adopted what they termed a "zero tolerance" policy for dealing with clerics accused of sexual abuse.
Steier refused to disclose the grounds on which he based his objections.
"There's some technical defects as to the subpoenas," he said. "Let's leave it at that. I'm not comfortable going into all this stuff right now."
The files, which sources said fit into one banker's box, were generated from archdiocese's investigations of allegations against priests.
The documents are thought to be part of personnel files, which Steier claims should be kept private.
David Houston
david_houston@dailyjournal.com
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