Friday, March 11, 2011

Lawyers fight Catholic church to bring in Megan's Law for priests who have abused children but aren't on a sex offenders list

Priest Carl Sutphin left his ministry in the Roman Catholic church just before being charged nearly a decade ago with sexually abusing six children.

He was never convicted and today lives in a mobile home within two miles of a youth sports complex, a library, two day care centres and at least two elementary schools.

Sutphin admits he molested children, but his name doesn't show up in any sex offender database  - because too much time had elapsed and the charges were dropped.

He is one of dozens of former and current priests and religious brothers accused of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who now live unmonitored by civil authorities.

For many, the statute of limitations had expired by the time the abuse was reported, making it impossible for prosecutors to win convictions and subject the priests to sex offender lists and monitoring.

Now attorneys for abuse victims have worked with private investigators since October to compile a list of the addresses of  233 clergy accused in civil lawsuits in the archdiocese.

They hope to use it to persuade a judge to recommend the release of all church files on clergy accused of abuse.

Those confidential files are at the centre of a tug-of-war between the church and lawyers since the largest archdiocese in the U.S. reached a record-breaking $660 million settlement nearly four years ago.

Lawyers want the files - which could include internal correspondence, previous complaints and therapy records - released, saying it's a matter of public safety.

The church is pushing for a more limited release of the information.

The list of addresses, obtained by The Associated Press, contains nearly 50 former priests who live unmonitored in California, and another 15 in cities and towns from Maryland to Texas to Montana.

More than 80 more cannot be found despite an exhaustive search. Four are believed to have fled to Mexico or South America. 

About 80 are dead.

Even Sutphin, who has been accused of abuse by 18 victims, admitted the church should have 'acted quicker' in helping abuse victims.

He said: 'I don't remember the numbers. I won't say I deny it. I do not deny it, no.'

'The church could have acted quicker, I think, and sometimes reports were not made right away. In my case, some of the cases didn't come forward until 15 or 20 years later.'

Lawyers hope to eventually make the names and locations of abusive priests available to the public, similar to Megan's Law databases that exist nationwide.

Attorney Raymond Boucher said: 'Many of these priests would be in prison but for the fact that the archdiocese essentially created immunity for them by hiding them and keeping the secrets.

'It's essential that these documents come out because we know one thing: there is no cure for priests or anybody that sexually abuses a child.

'Many of them are within a mile of multiple schools, day care centres and parks and they are a time bomb waiting to go off.

'The only way the public can ever protect itself is to have a full, complete knowledge about them.'

Archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan said the church was willing to release a significant number of documents and has already made public the names of accused priests or whose names were listed in civil lawsuits.

But he claimed the archdiocese believes many of the priests whose addresses appear on the list were wrongfully accused.

The archdiocese included those clergy in the $660 million payout without admitting wrongdoing, simply to settle the claims, he added.

Hennigan claimed the allegations of abuse have ruined those priests' reputations.

He said: "These are people who have been accused, these are not people who have been convicted.

'We have great sympathy for victims of childhood sexual abuse, but to suggest that there's a compelling interest in producing these documents wholesale is a stretch.

'Many of these people deny it and many of these people credibly deny it. It haunts them.'

In 2004, the archdiocese released the names of more than 200 accused priests - including Sutphin's - in a report to parishioners.

The list did not include where the men were living.

Sutphin and around 30 of the individual priests are now fighting the release of files.

They argue that the settlement, which contained provisions for the release of documents, was an agreement between the archdiocese and the victims without their agreement.
 
Most of the priests themselves are not named as parties to the lawsuits and obtaining their records violates the Fourth Amendment, the protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

Their lawyer Donald Steier said: 'Even though people don't like these guys, the rules still apply.

'It's easy to evaporate their rights but when you evaporate their rights, you erode all of our rights. Everybody needs to play by the same set of rules.'

Many of the priests named in sex abuse lawsuits have been defrocked, removed from ministry or placed on leave by the church since being accused.

Most appear to have rebuilt their lives outside the church and live quietly and anonymously, unnoticed in their new neighbourhoods, which span 37 California cities from Berkeley to Oxnard to Oceanside.

In the working-class city of Rowland Heights, retired priest Stephen Hernandez lives in a large two-story house across the street from a family with a six-year-old child and within two miles of three playgrounds and four elementary schools.

The 77-year-old Hernandez was arrested seven years ago and charged with molesting a 14-year-old boy while serving as a counsellor at a Los Angeles area juvenile hall.

The clergyman had faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted of all charges, but eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour and was sentenced to probation.

He is not listed on the state's Megan's Law website.

Chitira Zuno and her husband Delfino have lived across the street from Hernandez for years and said they were surprised to learn the elderly priest they call Father Steve has a criminal past.

Still, the couple said they supported him and weren't concerned for the safety of their grandson Amoray, who's lived with them since he was an infant.

Hernandez is ill and never crosses the street to their home, said Mrs Zuno,who described herself as a devout Catholic and hosts a religious program on public access TV.

She added: 'He's now old, sick. He only needs compassion. A priest is a priest. If we can think about faith, we can see that we are all human and we can all do mistakes.

'I know some priests that have been accused and maybe he's done a mistake once in his life and this is going to be after him all his life.'