-Caveat Lector- >From LA Times
}}}>Begin http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la- 040502email.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia%2Dmanual Mahony E-Mail Talks of 'Our Big Mistake' Scandal: Archdiocese unsuccessfully seeks to block publication of messages in which he criticizes failure to give names to police. By JESSICA GARRISON Times Staff Writer April 5 2002 Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told one of his lawyers in a recent e-mail that the diocese made 'our big mistake' by not turning over three cases involving priests accused of wrongdoing to the LAPD, according to e-mails obtained Thursday by the Los Angeles Times. "It was a huge mistake on our part," Mahony wrote in an e-mail dated March 27. "If we don't, today, 'consult' with the Det[ective] about those 3 names, I can guarantee you that I will get hauled into a Grand Jury proceeding and I will be forced to give all the names, etc." Since The Times reported that Mahony had released between six and 12 priests accused of sexual misconduct, the archdiocese has declined to say precisely how many priests overall have been implicated in the scandal. For the first time, the e-mails suggest that the actual number is eight. "If I recall, of the 8 priests involved, 5 have already been reported to local law enforcement agencies," Mahony wrote. "That leaves 3." That and other e-mails emerged at the center of an extraordinary legal debate late Thursday night, as a lawyer for the archdiocese sought to prevent publication of e- mails between Mahony and his lawyer pertaining to the sexual misconduct of priests. Some of those e-mails had been broadcast by KFI Radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Champou on Thursday afternoon; KFI was named in the action brought by the church, but did not appear in court. After the archdiocese lawyers contacted the show, Kobylt and Champou stopped reading the emails and began a heated discussion of their contents. Church officials reported the matter to the FBI, where a spokeswoman said the bureau was investigating whether Mahony's e-mail had been "compromised and leaked." By Thursday evening, church officials had turned their attention to blocking publication of the e-mails by The Times. But Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe refused to grant the petition of Sister Judith Ann Murphy, Mahony's attorney. "That's what I don't think the Constitution permits me to do," Yaffe said in a ruling handed down just before midnight. Donald H. Steier, attorney for the archdiocese, said that the e-mails were protected by attorney-client privilege. Before the hearing began, Los Angeles Times counsel Karlene Goller asked Steier, the lawyer for the archdiocese, if the e-mails were authentic. "Yeah, they are," Steier answered. "We wouldn't be here if they weren't." A terrible harm would be inflicted upon the archdiocese by publishing the documents, he argued, while there was no harm at all in asking the newspaper to wait a few days before publication. "Whether or not it's attorney-client privilege is irrelevant," argued Kelli Sager, the lawyer representing The Times. "The California Constitution provides an absolute right to publish." The move by the archdiocese represented a highly unusual attempt to block publication of information that it considered sensitive. Such moves, known as "prior restraints," almost never are granted by courts, and when they are, they almost inevitably are overturned on appeal. In this case, Steier, the lawyer for the church, maintained that California law prohibited the "use" of material that was illegally obtained. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, held last year that if a news organization lawfully obtains such information, the First Amendment protects the organization's right to publish it. Sager cited that case Thursday night as the hearing approached midnight, and Steier conceded that he could not produce cases with the legal authority to overcome that argument. "I don't have authority," he said. "I wish I had authority." The e-mails that the archdiocese was seeking to keep secret include communications between Mahony and his staff, including his lawyers. In one, Mahony urged that his lawyers and aides meet with a police detective and clarify that all priests implicated with possible wrongdoing had been discussed with authorities. In addition to the five priests already reported to authorities, Mahony suggested that three more needed to be discussed with police. Repeatedly stressing the gravity of the situation, Mahony said he was preparing a response to Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and wanted to be able to tell Parks "that every single case of the few priests was reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency over the years." The following week, in an interview with The Times, Mahony declined to say precisely how many cases were involved, but said that in two instances, victims made "heart-wrenching pleas" to him not to disclose the identities of the priests. Near the end of the March 27 e-mail, Mahony reiterated his concern about the growing scandal and its implications for the Los Angeles archdiocese. "If we don't take immediate, aggressive action here-the consequences for the [archdiocese] are going to be incredible," Mahony wrote. "Charges of cover up, concealing criminals, etc., etc." If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights. End<{{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no automatic endorsement + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. 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