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	Judge Orders All Abuse Evidence Be Turned over By Mary Beth Smetzer Fairbanks News-Miner [Alaska] February 18, 2006 http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~3243283,00.html A Nome Superior Court judge ordered the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, to produce missing evidence requested by attorneys in the sexual abuse lawsuit filed by Jane Doe 2. Judge Ben Esch did not issue a ruling Friday during the second day of an evidentiary hearing. Defense attorneys made their case that the civil suit should be dropped against the diocese and Jesuits because the statue of limitations has expired. Esch severed the Rev. James Poole from the case in December, ruling Jane Doe 2 waited too long to report alleged sexual abuse. She claims Poole abused her repeatedly, got her pregnant at the age of 14, then suggested she have an abortion. Trial is scheduled for Feb. 27. Esch said he hopes to have a ruling in the case by Tuesday. In the meantime, he ordered the diocese and Jesuits to immediately turn over documents requested by the defense. Attorney Ken Roosa has asked the court for sanctions after church officials recently turned over thousands of documents. For the Jesuits, that means 5,300 e-mails, a privileged e-mail log and notebooks used by the Rev. John Whitney, Oregon Jesuit provincial. If the case does go to trial, it will be the first of more than 90 child sexual abuse civil suits lodged against the Fairbanks diocese and the Jesuits to go before a jury. Doe attorney John Manly asked the judge Friday to specifically request notes and a memo authored and e-mailed to the Rev. Patrick Ford, now deceased, in July 2004. The memo was composed from notes taken by Whitney during a June 2004 telephone interview with Poole. Manly also asked to view black notebooks mentioned in a deposition. He said Whitney kept notes about sexual abuse and Poole in the notebooks. Esch ordered attorneys to produce the notebooks for private review in his chambers. Whitney said in a telephone interview Friday evening that he has passed along all the information that has been requested, except for the "manifestation of conscience" notes he believes have been protected by a court decision. Manifestation of conscience is a practice unique to the Jesuits, an international Catholic religious order. It is described by Whitney as "a confidential, annual spiritual conversation between the major superior and a Jesuit," similar to a confession. Whitney said he thought the notes plaintiff attorneys requested were attached to the memo sent to Ford. He remembers writing them on a yellow pad while on the telephone with Poole and later typing them up and attaching them to the memo. Whitney, currently in St. Louis, said he will be examining his notebooks for the information requested. Esch who heard arguments Friday concerning trial exhibits and the late filing of documents, will allow plaintiff attorneys to add late documents to the exhibits list and testify on topics related to the late documents at trial. Esch's ruling will determine whether Jane Doe 2 could have or should have reported the abuse before the statute of limitations for criminal offenses against children ran out. Under Alaska law that means offenses against children 16 and under must be reported three years after discovery of the injury. For crimes committed against children after the age of 16, charges must be brought within two years of the victim's 18th birthday. Mary Beth Smetzer can be reached at msmetzer@newsminer.com or 459-7546.
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