BishopAccountability.org
	A Federal Judge Said Thursday That a Lower Court Cannot Restrict News Media Coverage of Sexual Abuse Charges against a Roman Catholic Priest Associated Press September 22, 1977 After hearing testimony from two television reporters, U.S. District Court Judge James Churchill issued a preliminary injuction scrapping a Farmington District Court judge's gag order in the case. Churchill's ruling permits the news media to use any information they uncover in the case of Father Gary Berthiaume, 35, an assistant at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Farmington. The injunction, issued in response to a suit filed by WXY-TV and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, also removes the threat of contempt citations against the television station, The Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press. All reported the priest's name in early coverage of the case. In barring District Court Judge Michael Hand from issuing further gag orders in the case, Churchill said a little known Michigan statute authorizing such orders may be unconstitutional. Churchill said his injuction does not bar Hand from ordering court personnel, attorneys or police not to talk about the case. "Judge Hand may issue all the suppression orders he likes," Churchill said, "but he may not make them applicable to the press." Hand issued an order restricting news coverage on Sept. 2 after the priest was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly fondling a 14-year-old boy. Father Berthiaume later was charged with a similar count in an incident allegedly involving a 13-year-old Oakland County boy, and Hand issued a similar order in that case. The statute under which the suppression orders were made is part of Michigan's landmark 6975 rape law. The law's author, Sen. Thomas D. Guastello, D-Sterling Heights, said he intended it primarily to protect victims of sexual abuse and encourage them to prosecute. State officials say, however, that since the law's inception more defendants than victims have taken advantage of a provision that allows suppression of names and details in sex cases until a trial is ordered or the case dismissed.
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