MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation
12/08/2014
Jennifer Haselberger
The Scots have the advantage over us when it comes to verdicts in criminal prosecutions, in that in addition to ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’ a jury can also determine that a case is ‘not proven’, which is generally taken to mean ‘guilty, but we can’t prove it’. One wonders if the possibility of this verdict would have altered the decision taken in the case of Reverend Mark Huberty, which was decided in Ramsey County Court this morning.
The matter in question did not come to the attention of the Archdiocese until after I had resigned, so I have no personal knowledge of the case beyond the fact that I was aware that this is not the first time that such allegations have been made against Father Huberty. And, of course, I became aware of the other allegations (more affairs, pornography, profiles on ashleymadison.com) that prosecutors sought to have admitted as Spreigl/Rule 404(b) evidence.
The ‘not proven’ option would have provided an elegant solution to the legal dilemma that this case (and others like it) presented. For, there is no question that Father Huberty engaged in sexual activity with his accuser. The only question for the criminal court was whether she consented to the acts and whether that consent was valid (it would be invalid if she was found to have consented to sexual contact in the course of receiving spiritual guidance, counseling, or support). As such, trying to determine the validity of consent often involves discussion of religious doctrine and practices to the extent that such prosecutions are open to excessive entanglement and other First Amendment challenges. The fact that the other two prosecutions of Archdiocesan clergy on similar charges both resulted in guilty verdicts that were then overturned in whole or in part probably had as much to do with the verdict in the Huberty case as anything that was argued in court. It is juridically messy when the criminal courts are put in the quandary of having to determine whether a priest’s actions are criminal, or merely sinful.
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