Reject Arguments of Clergy, Advocates Argue in Amicus Brief Filed in High Court Ahead of Grand Jury Report

By Ivey DeJesus
Penn Live
August 8, 2018

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/08/advocates_filed_amicus_brief_u.html

Attorney Marci Hamilton is the CEO and academic director of CHILD USA, one of two advocacy groups that on Wednesday joined in an amicus brief to the state Supreme Court urging it to dismiss challenges from clergy to an upcoming clergy sex abuse report. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

An advocacy group for victims of child sex abuse and a watchdog group on Wednesday jointly filed an amicus brief urging the state's highest court to reject the arguments of clergy seeking to have their names redacted from the upcoming report.

In their filing to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, CHILD USA and BishopAccountability.org noted that as a result of the state's narrowly defined statute of limitations, victims have limited avenues for publicly exposing predators.

"Parents deserve to know who is endangering their children and how. Pennsylvanians only know about the child sex abuse in the Philadelphia and Johnstown/Altoona dioceses, at Penn State, and at the Solebury School, because prosecutors took the lead and issued grand jury reports detailing the dangers that children had suffered," said Marci Hamilton, CEO and a director of CHILD USA.

Last week, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioning clergy.

The lawyers argued that the lower court had failed to consider whether the grand jury report fell within statutorily approved purposes.

"The grand jury's historic function is to stand between the lone citizen and the state's monopoly power to deprive a citizen of reputation, property and liberty via a properly lodged charge of criminal conduct," the attorneys argued in their brief. "The process leading to this investigating grand jury report stood that function on its head."

The petitioners in Wednesday's amicus brief argued that as long as Pennsylvania civil and criminal statutes of limitations for child sex abuse were not reformed, grand jury reports would remain the only means of learning about predators and their abuse.

"Suppressing the identities of the alleged perpetrators -- particularly where they are not indicted simply due to the expiration of the criminal statute of limitations-- re-victimizes the victims and disserves the public," Hamilton said.

The Commonwealth is, by court order, poised to release the 900-page report at any given moment. The deadline for its release if Aug. 14.

The report, which remains under seal, is expected to be one of the most scathing and comprehensive investigations into the worldwide scandal embroiling the 1.2-billion member church.

The 18-month-long investigation looked into allegations of child sex crimes across the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Together, the dioceses are home to more than 1.7 million Catholics.

According to unsealed excerpts of the grand jury report, more than 300 "predator priests" identified by name are accused of committing criminal or morally reprehensible conduct. The vast majority of those named will be publicly identified in the report.

About two dozen members of the clergy have tied the release of the report up in court with challenges that the report as written violates their constitutional rights.

Already, sitting bishops have taken bold measures ahead of the report to hold former church officials accountable.

The high court last month ruled that a redacted report could be released. The court has agreed to hear the arguments of the petitioners ahead of releasing the full and unredacted report later this year.

PennLive is among a cadre of news organizations that has petitioned the Supreme Court to release the report and make public the names of individuals fighting to derail its release. The news outlets include The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Associated Press.

The amicus brief filed Wednesday urges the court to reject the arguments of the clergy who have petitioned the court to redact their names or the manner in which the report portrays them.

The PACDL is an association of attorneys admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

BishopAccountability.org maintains an online database of more than 4,000 accused clergy, bishops, brothers and nuns in the U.S.