BishopAccountability.org
	Memphis Catholic Church Sex Scandal: Victim's Identity Mistakenly Made Public By Kevin Holmes Memphis April 7, 2010 http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Memphis-Catholic-Church-Sex-Scandal-Victim-s/-6ySAKqmoka1ebTQluyP7g.cspx MEMPHIS, TN - For years, the name of the victim who exposed a far reaching sex scandal in the Catholic Church in Memphis has been kept secret until now. He and others have been victimized again when his name was revealed in carelessly edited legal documents published on the internet. "A number of attorney's have spent many, many hours, working on these records. It's thousands of pages and we are trying to uphold the spirit of the court's order to protect the identity of the plaintiff, of the victims," says Karen Campbell. Campbell is the victim's attorney. Under a judge's order, public documents are only to refer to the victim as "John Doe." "Doe" is a 14 year-old boy who claims he was abused by a Memphis Priest back in 2004. "It was very carefully directed in the court that all the names of anybody would be redacted," says Father John Geaney. Geaney is Spokesperson for the Diocese of Memphis. MyEyewitnessNews.com has uncovered documents that show a black marker covering the victim's name, but you can still make out his identity. Those documents were published on the Memphis Commercial Appeal's website more than 12 hours. There's even a page where the victim's name wasn't blacked out at all. Campbell says privacy has always been an issue throughout this case. While she wouldn't go into detail about how this mistake was overlooked, she tells myEyewitnessNews.com her goal is to uphold her client's privacy. "That's what we're going to continue to work on, protecting their identities." The Memphis Diocese feels as if they didn't try hard enough. Father Geaney feels the Commercial Appeal should also be held accountable. "It's very important for those who are responsible for putting these documents on the web that they in turn be sure the order of the court is being followed. Sometimes when we are so quick to make judgments, we make bad ones." The man, whose name was mistakenly revealed, now lives out of the country where is a student trying to move forward with his life. Campbell tells myEyewitnessNews.com her client still struggles with what happened in Memphis and will probably never fully recover. Memphis Commercial Appeal Editor Chris Peck tells myEyewitnessNews.com the paper was unaware of the problem until we asked questions. Peck blames the problem on attorneys in the case who told a judge the documents were ready to be released. Peck says they will be reposted after additional editing. Contact: kholmes@myeyewitnessnews.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.