ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times
It has been a week of starts and stops for Ken Chackes, the attorney representing Jane Doe, a young woman who claims she was sexually abused in the late 1990s and early 2000s at the hands of the now de-frocked priest Father Joseph Ross.
Last week the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker demanding that the St. Louis Archdiocese turn over to Chackes and the victim, now in her early twenties, the names of 115 of its employees accused of molesting children from 1983 to 2003. But the ruling was fleeting. On Monday the archdiocese won a stay from the Missouri Supreme Court that, at best, will further delay the release of the names or, at worst, ensure they remain a secret as the Church desires.
But even if the names of the accused and the victims are turned over, it’s unclear what impact they’ll have at trial.
For one, the “matrix” of sex allegations that the archdiocese wanted to keep under wraps (but which sneaked out as part of its appellate filing), is incredibly vague even with the inclusion of names. Secondly, the archdiocese’s cat-and-mouse game in court — with Dierker threatening to charge the archdiocese with contempt for dragging its feet — has already cost Chackes and his client precious time for discovery. The trial is slated to begin in a scant five weeks on February 24.
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