BALTIMORE (MD)
WBAL-TV, NBC-11 [Baltimore MD]
February 24, 2023
By David Collins and Greg Ng, WBAL-TV 11
A redacted version of the Maryland attorney general’s report into child sexual abuse at the Archdiocese of Baltimore can be released, a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge ruled Friday.
| LINKS: Read the motion | Memorandum and order | Read the archbishop’s response
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released a statement Friday afternoon, saying: “We are pleased with the court’s order today permitting the interim release of a redacted version of the attorney general’s report on the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The office will move expeditiously to comply with the court’s order and prepare a redacted copy of the report to be released upon review and approval by the court.”
Details of the attorney general’s four-year, 456-page investigation weren’t initially made public because much of the material was obtained through a grand jury. Then-Attorney General Brian Frosh sought the court’s permission in November 2022 to waive the grand jury privilege.
The attorney general’s motion indicated boys and girls were sexually abused by priests ranging in age from pre-school to young adults. Investigators found 158 clergy members in the Archdiocese of Baltimore abused more than 600 people over the past 80 years.
I WATCH: Sex abuse victims want AG’s report released (November 2022)
The Archdiocese of Baltimore released a statement, saying: “Ever-aware of the pain endured by survivors of child sexual abuse, the archdiocese once again offers its sincere apologies to the victim-survivors who were harmed by a minister of the church and who were harmed by those who failed to protect them and who failed to respond to them with care and compassion. As we said publicly last year, we respect the court’s decisions in this matter and will continue to cooperate with the court and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. The archdiocese continues to pray this report brings some measure of healing of the deep wounds caused by the scourge of child sexual abuse in the life of the church.”
According to the Judge Robert Taylor Jr.’s order on Friday, the Attorney General’s Office will prepare a list of affected people to be presented to the court on March 13 and contact those people, after which time, a redacted version of the report can be released.
A more complete version of the report could be released after court hearings to decide whether some of the documents that identify the affected people should remain sealed.