OREGON
The Oregonian
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
One of the 66 clergy sexual-abuse claimants now in mediation with the Archdiocese of Portland shot himself to death, prompting his lawyer to ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to free up money for emergency counseling for the others.
Larry Lynn Craven, a 49-year-old Marion County man who had been identified in court records only as John Doe or L.C., died on July 21, according to the county's vital statistics office. Daniel J. Gatti, his lawyer, said he shot himself.
Craven's case was scheduled for mediation Aug. 29.
"This isn't a case about money," Gatti said. "It's a case about healing."
Craven's suicide is the third among sexual-abuse plaintiffs in recent months. Peter Ryan, 44, of Portland, who received a $1 million settlement for abuse by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond, committed suicide in February. Steven D. Colvin, 43, of Portland, who had accused the Rev. Michael Sprauer of abusing him when he was a teenage inmate of MacLaren School for Boys, killed himself in December.
Gatti's motion asks U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris to allow the archdiocese to pay for counseling for any claimants who are at risk for harming themselves or others.