LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey Herald
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The state Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it has declined to hear arguments from the Los Angeles Archdiocese on why personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse should not be turned over to a grand jury.
The Supreme Court's Web site said the petition by the nation's largest archdiocese was denied.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has been seeking the personnel files as it investigates alleged sexual abuse.
The archdiocese has objected to turning over the files, citing constitutional issues. The archdiocese faces hundreds of lawsuits alleging that its priests sexually molested children.
A state appellate court in July ordered Cardinal Roger Mahony to turn over the internal church records of two ex-priests accused of sexually abusing children. The 2nd District Court of Appeal in its 49-page ruling upheld a previous judge's decision that the church documents involving allegations of clergy sexual abuse should be released to the grand jury.