Top Pick for Illinois US Attorney Represented Jesuits in Sex Abuse Cases

What They Knew
October 25, 2012

http://vu2103.katla.orangewebsite.com/top-pick-for-illinois-us-attorney-jesuit-sex-abuse/

Patrick Collins knew how to protect Jesuits better than children

In another chapter of the best defense money can buy, we look at one of the top picks to replace Patrick Fitzgerald as the US Attorney (chief federal prosecutor) in the State of Illinois. The Chicago Tribune named the top picks to replace the outgoing Jesuit friendly US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, and surprise of all surprises one of the top names up for consideration is one (of many) of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus’ criminal defense attorneys, Patrick Collins.

Mr. Collins has a very impressive resume both as a prosecutor and in the realm of criminal and civil defense. However, he leaves out one of his most surprising and major accomplishments, keeping the Jesuit hierarchy in Chicago out of jail and away from the police and juries.

From the documents below we can see how Mr. Collins deftly maneuvered through the murky facts that his client, the Chicago Province did the following:

- failed to report the sexual abuse of minors to the police for decades

- failed to turn over documents to Wisconsin Prosecutors and the Police

- Collins limited the scope of the investigation by his former employer, the US Department of Justice, into the federal criminal activity of the Chicago Jesuit Province

- Lastly, advised the Chicago Jesuits on PR and the handling of multiple state criminal complaints, especially in Arizona

From his emails below we can see Patrick Collins and his team of very high-priced lawyers at Perkin Coie burnt through the donated dollars of the Jesuits and left them in a state of moral poverty. But then again former US Attorneys don’t come cheap, as the new Provincial Tim Kesicki SJ knows by hiring another former Assistant US Attorney turned full-time Jesuit criminal defense lawyer, who currently protects the Jesuits from claims of child sex abuse in numerous criminal and civil actions. More on him later.

However, Patrick Collins may not be so happy with his former clients the Chicago Province. As seen in a brief prepared by their new attorney, the Chicago Jesuits were happy to heap blame on their former lawyers for “bad advice” when they faced punitive damages. Claiming the top pick for US Attorney in Illinois gave you “bad advice” may not make you many friends later down the road and it certainly didn’t impress the judge in the case. The Jesuits ended up losing the motion in the pending cases that are still waiting to be heard by a Chicago jury. If Collins is appointed to the office and the cases go to trial it could be the “perfect storm” to find out just how pervasive child sexual abuse is in the Society of Jesus in Chicago and elsewhere.

We begin at the end with Patrick Collins, when he could no longer delay producing documents to the Wisconsin prosecutor Koss, after the Jesuits claimed for 2 years that they had only a one page document regarding Donald McGuire. (Link to original Jesuit attorney letter to WI Prosecutor)

In reality there are well over 70,000 pages (Collins produced close to 5,000 pages) relating to the sexual abuse and cover-up in the McGuire case. That number does not include the files of other Jesuit child sex abusers not publicly exposed, other Provinces and dioceses around the world as well as documents in Rome that have not been made public… yet.




Then there was the whole mess in Phoenix, Arizona we covered last week HERE. Collins had to scramble to keep the Chicago Jesuits one step ahead of the law after years of covering up reported abuse. Then of course there was the management of reporting to the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, where standards seemed to be even more forgiving. But more on the State’s Attorney and the Jesuits later. For now more of Collins and his partners work on behalf of the Jesuits.




Hold tight folks, there may be a new sheriff in town soon. Whether that is Collins or someone else, we will see if the new US Attorney in Illinois will finally put an end to the Jesuits abuse of children, their families and vulnerable adults.

The brilliant Kenny Price performs ‘The Sheriff of Boone County’