BishopAccountability.org
	Court: Victims' Names Shouldn't Be Released Prosecutors to Learn of Living Abusers By Peter Smith Courier-Journal [Kentucky] October 28, 2006 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061028/NEWS01/610280387/1008/NEWS01 Prosecutors should get the names of living persons accused in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington sexual abuse case -- but not the names of victims or deceased abusers, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. In its unanimous vote, the court overturned part of an order issued by the judge overseeing the case in Boone Circuit Court. The dispute centered on an order in June by Senior Judge John W. Potter, who oversaw the class-action lawsuit that was settled for $85 million earlier this year by the diocese and about 350 anonymous plaintiffs. Potter ordered the special master overseeing the settlement fund in June to turn over all of the names involved -- of victims as well as abusers, dead or alive -- and details of the abuse to prosecutors. Lawyers for the plaintiffs appealed, saying that disclosing their names would invade the victims' privacy. The appeals court ruled that Potter was acting in the "public interest" in seeing that "widespread criminal conduct" be reported. It said names of living abusers, and the details of their alleged crimes, should be reported to prosecutors. But the court overturned Potter's order to turn over the names of victims as well, saying such a disclosure "could cause irreparable harm to some" of them. The court also said there was no need to give authorities the names of abusers who are deceased, since they couldn't be prosecuted. Judge Lisabeth Hughes Abramson wrote the decision, which was signed by Judge Michael Henry.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.