HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live
June 21, 2018
By Ivey DeJesus
This report has been updated to clarify information on the unidentified and unindicted individuals.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court was clear and succinct on Wednesday when it barred the release of a long-awaited statewide grand jury report into clergy sex abuse.
The court’s four-sentence order offered no explanation as to why the court made the decision; what, if any, vote count was taken; nor did it give indication as to whether the order signals that the court will hear future arguments on the matter.
The seemingly abridged order simply blocked the Office of the Attorney General and the Cambria County Court of Common Pleas judge overseeing the grand jury from releasing the findings of the probe. The order may have been blunt, but it was within the strictest bounds of the law.
“The mantra here is that grand juries are secret and that’s the problem,” said Nicholas Ressetar, chief law clerk with the Harrisburg-based law firm Costopoulos, Foster & Fields. “Their dilemma is, ‘How could we become more transparent without giving up the names of the individuals or institutions making these claims?’ It’s a dilemma really.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.