ILLINOIS
Daily Herald
By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2004
The public won't get to hear a secretly taped conversation where a teenager tries to get a former Geneva priest to admit to sexually abusing her unless the priest's civil lawsuit goes to trial, a judge ruled Monday.
Kane County Judge F. Keith Brown continued indefinitely the protective order prohibiting the release of the six audio tapes and their transcripts to the public or press. He said release of the tapes could tamper the jury pool and impinge on the fairness of a trial against former priest Mark Campobello, the Rockford Catholic Diocese and Bishop Thomas Doran. Brown cited attorney rules of conduct that prohibit the disclosure of information that may be testified to in trial.
Once the information was testified to at trial, it would become public, but that may never happen. An attorney for the diocese and Doran has said previously both parties are willing to negotiate a settlement.
Shorewood attorney Keith Aeschliman sought the tapes on behalf of two women who claim they were sexually abused by Campobello while one was a teenager at St. Peter's Church in Geneva and the other at Aurora Central Catholic High School.