CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Saturday, December 11, 2004
One of California's leading sexual abuse lawyers said Friday that newly released court documents show that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony committed perjury during a 1998 trial in Stockton.
The accusation by Stockton attorney Larry Drivon came one day after a transcript of a deposition Mahony gave in Los Angeles on Nov. 23. was made public.
A spokesman for Mahony called the accusation "ridiculous.''
Mahony served as the bishop of the Diocese of Stockton from 1980 to 1985, when he was elevated to head the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.
The Los Angeles prelate's deposition involves his supervision of the Rev. Oliver O'Grady, a convicted child molester whose actions have cost the California Catholic church millions of dollars. The deposition is in connection to a recent wave of lawsuits made possible by a 2002 state law that temporarily abolished the statute of limitations on abuse claims against the church and other employers of known sexual predators.
Posted by kshaw at December 12, 2004 09:43 AM