Law and Order

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 4, 2012

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/law-and-order/article_1b5ce4a7-c803-5bb4-84a5-7460d408e034.html

ST. LOUIS > Advocate for victims of clergy abuse says he refused to answer lawyer's questions — The director of an advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse said he refused to answer questions or turn over documents in a deposition Monday in a Kansas City clergy abuse case. David Clohessy, the St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that attorneys for the Rev. Michael Tierney had requested "hundreds or thousands of pages of SNAP records involving victims and others across the country going back some 23 years." Clohessy's lawyer had asked the Missouri Supreme Court to quash the deposition subpoena in order to avoid disclosing confidential information from victims of clergy sexual abuse, members of the organization and journalists. Attorneys who work with abuse victims had said compelling such testimony would betray the trust of abuse victims and introduce a chilling effect for those who have yet to come forward. Tierney's attorneys could not be reached Tuesday evening.