Did Attorney General Shapiro Petition High Court to Lift Ban on Release of Grand Jury Report? We Don't Know: It's a Secret Process

By Ivey DeJesus
PennLive
July 2, 2018

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/07/attorney_general_shapiro_petit.html

Attorney.jpg Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro is asking the state Supreme Court to allow the grand jury report on clergy sex abuse to be released to the public. (File photo/Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro last week vowed to petition the state's high court to allow the release of a long-awaited grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.

Shapiro may have done just that on Monday - or not.

PennLive had no way of confirming either way since all documents pertaining to the report remain under tight seal.

Shapiro on Monday was poised to petition the state Supreme Court to release the findings of a grand jury investigation into the sex abuse of children by priests across the state.

Shapiro last week vowed to file an objection to the court's decision to block the release of the report, noting that residents of the state had the right to see the report. Shapiro even tweeted his intentions to ask the court to make public the names of the individuals who challenged the report leading to the block and the reasons for their objection to the report.

But on Monday, the secret nature of grand jury investigations continued to check any public release of any information - including whether the state's top law enforcement agent had filed the motion he vowed to file last week.

The attorney general's office on Monday was releasing no information on the matter. A check with the prothonotary's office showed that all documents remain under seal. As a result, PennLive is unable to confirm whether the attorney general carried through with his intention to file a motion to the court

The Supreme Court two weeks ago blocked the release of the report citing objections from individuals named in the report - but not named publicly - who argued that the release of the report would deny them due process.

The 800-plus page grand jury report follows an 18-month long investigation by the attorney general's office, and is expected to expose alleged child sex crimes and cover-up across six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown have already been subjects of similar investigations.

On Monday, two victims of clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Harrisburg filed a lawsuit in court seeking to have a gag order imposed by the diocese to be lifted.

Shapiro had planned to release the report last month. The court order prohibited Shapiro's office or a lower court from releasing the report.

On Friday, seven news organizations appealed to the court to release the report, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Associated Press.

With the exception of a five-page opinion released by the Supreme Court last week, all documents pertaining to the grand jury investigation remain under seal.

In the opinion, the court notes that the report "is a matter of great public interest," and that most, "if not all," of the petitioners allege that they are named or identified in a way that unconstitutionally infringes on their right to reputation and denies them due process.

Last year, the dioceses of Harrisburg and Greensburg sought to block the grand jury investigation, with church officials arguing that the creation of the grand jury lacked a legal justification. That finding was first reported by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III, the Cambria County Court judge who had oversight of the grand jury probe, last month paved the way for the individuals to appeal to the high court. Krumenacker opined that the individuals have a right to have their objections heard by a court.

Grand jury investigations and reports are, under law, conducted in a secret manner until all documents are unsealed by court order.

The high court has given no indication as to the time frame of when it will hear the challenges and lift the block to the report.