Pennsylvania Is National Leader in Aggressively Going after Institutional Child Sex Predators

By Ivey DeJesus
PennLiive
April 26, 2018

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/04/report_is_likely_to_result_in.html

Marci.jpg Marci Hamilton, a constitutional law expert and statute of limitations expert, expects criminal charges to result out of the pending grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. Hamilton, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and CEO of CHILD USA, has long advocated for reform to state child sex crime laws. (Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.)

More than any other state, Pennsylvania is aggressively going after child sex predators.

From multiple grand jury investigations into the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a similar grand jury probe into the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, the prosecution of Jerry Sandusky and the investigation into systemic sex abuse of students at a New Hope private school, state prosecutors have positioned the state as arguably the most aggressive in the nation against child sex crimes.

A pending grand jury investigation into six Roman Catholic dioceses in the state is poised to further ratchet up the scope of that outlook. The probe ostensibly will provide a complete look into clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania is to be commended for pursuing these criminal matters," said Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who specializes in sexual abuse cases and represented hundreds for victims in lawsuits against the Catholic Church. "In a way they are showing many states the great need for criminal actions to be pursued with regard to clergy sex abuse and sex abuse of children."

Garabedian was featured prominently -- as portrayed by Stanley Tucci -- in the film "Spotlight," which disseminated to a global audience the story of decades of abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who specializes in sexual abuse cases, has represented hundreds for victims in suits against the Catholic Church. This 2017 photo was taken at a news conference in Boston in a case against actor Kevin Spacey. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

When released, the grand jury report, which is expected out as early as May, will position Pennsylvania as the state with the most grand jury reports into child sex abuse by institutions.

"No other state prosecutors have taken this issue as seriously as they have here," said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and one of the nation's leading advocates for reform to child sex crime laws.

"Some other state might have one. It might be into a diocese but this persistent follow up, largely started by Lynne Abraham, sent the message that whether or not the statute of limitations have expired, we need to know what happened. I think that's what has been happening in the state of Pennsylvania."

Abraham, a former Philadelphia district attorney, in 2005 led the grand jury investigation that found the Philadelphia archdiocese for decades failed to investigate claims of sexual abuse of children by priests, and failed to protect children.

Hamilton, who has during her career represented scores of plaintiffs in child sex abuse cases, said the scope of the pending grand jury investigation report is likely to eclipse other reports. Hamilton said the report will give insight into how systemic abuse of children happens in institutions -- whether religious or secular.

"This is huge," she said. "No other state attorney general has done this before. I believe that what they are going to do is give a comprehensive picture of the system in the Catholic Church that put children at risk."

The grand jury has been investigating allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic dioceses of Harrisburg, Allentown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Erie and Scranton. The probe comes in the wake of four other similar reports in Pennsylvania: three reports out of the Archdiocese in Philadelphia and the 2016 report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

The capacity to recommend that criminal charges be brought against individual perpetrators as well as church hierarchy, says Hamilton, will be among the compelling outcomes of the report. A grand jury has no power to charge or convict, but it can present probable cause to bring a case to trial.

Hamilton said the probability is high that criminal charges will come out of the pending grand jury report. She points specifically to the case against Monsignor William Lynn, the church's most senior official to have been convicted in this country for his handling of pedophile priests.

Lynn, a former secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was convicted in 2012 for transfering a known pedophile priest. As a result of an unresolved defense appeal, Lynn currently is a free man, and may not face retrial for months. He had served nearly three years of a three- to six-year sentence.

"The Lynn case opened the door to being able to charge supervisors for endangering the welfare of children," Hamilton said. "There is every reason to believe there is a possible charge here."

Advocates for victims increasingly are looking to Australia as a potential change in outlook towards the decades-old clergy sex abuse scandal. Australia is poised to prosecute the country's top Catholic official, Cardinal George Pell.

The case against Pell stemmed from a national inquiry into child abuse in Australia a few years ago. The Australia Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012 launched an investigation into how the Catholic Church and other institutions responded to sexual abuse of children in Australia over 90 years.

Garabedian said that Pennsylvania's aggressiveness in pursuing criminal matters pertaining to child sex abuse has set a tone and signals probable outcomes.

"I think one will see a lot more criminal actions being filed," he said. "If the aggressiveness of the state of Pennsylvania in its investigation is any indication, I believe you will see a lot more criminal actions being pursued in Pennsylvania than most other states."

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference has long said it advocates for the rights of victims and their healing.

"The Catholic Church has embraced the need to make this right for survivors," conference spokesperson Amy Hill recently said to PennLive in a written statement.

"Pennsylvania's dioceses have fully cooperated with the grand jury's investigation. Every diocese in Pennsylvania has helped survivors and their families pay for counselors and treatment programs of their choice, and will continue to do so. We pray the victims and their families can recover as they continue through a difficult healing process."

Both Hamilton and Garabedian note that the statute of limitations in Pennsylvania present a primary barrier.

No criminal charges, for example, resulted out of the grand jury report into the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Most, if not all, victims in that report had "timed out" of the legal system -- meaning the statute of limitations had expired for them.

Under current law, civil action can be pursued only until the victim reaches 30. A victim can bring criminal charges against an offender until he or she reaches 50, as long as he or she turned 18 after Aug. 27, 2002. The law allows victims older than that to report until their 30th birthday.

"The state of Pennsylvania is one of the more aggressive states pursuing the facts and law concerning criminal actions, but Pennsylvania, like so many other states, has to amend its statute of limitations," Garabedian said.

Hamilton said that while she expects the majority of the cases that will be outlined in the pending grand jury report are likely to be out of statute, she is still confident criminal charges could result, perhaps not so much on predator priests but on church hierarchy.

"With respect to the endangerment claim against Lynn, the argument is not only had he endangered children with respect to particular cases, but that it was an ongoing activity of endangerment by a diocese," Hamilton said. "The question will be 'what was the last act by a church official that would have endangered children?' That could be more recent even if most victims claims have expired."

Contact: idejesus@pennlive.com