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	DA Can Go after Church Records Supreme Court Won't Interfere in Sex-Crime Case By Toni Locy The Associated Press, carried in Monterey Herald [Washington DC] April 18, 2006 http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/14367391.htm WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere in a California prosecutor's efforts to obtain confidential counseling records kept by the Catholic Church on two priests under investigation for molesting children. The justices, without comment, declined to hear an appeal by the church of a state court ruling that permitted the Los Angeles district attorney to subpoena records generated by Cardinal Roger Mahony and the priests in dealing with concerns about child sexual abuse. The subpoenas are significant because similar records are being sought in hundreds of lawsuits filed by sexual abuse victims across the nation. According to the church's filing, counseling records are being sought in more than 500 victims' lawsuits in California alone. The 14 documents sought in the DA's investigation include letters to and from Mahony and the priests, along with details from their confessions and treatment. The church had argued the subpoenas violate the First Amendment's protection of religion, saying "state review of confidential, pastoral counseling... inherently entangles the state in the internal religious life of churches and intrudes into religious practice." Lawyers for the church also said the subpoenas will "chill" the relationship between Mahony and the priests. The case already has had an impact, they said. Instead of counseling, priests are hiring lawyers and refusing to undergo psychological evaluations, the church's lawyers said. In a brief statement Monday the archdiocese called the decision "disappointing." "We accept the court's ruling. This ruling will have no effect on the ongoing efforts of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to settle the civil cases through mediation," said the statement, which said that the 14 documents involved amount to 21 pages. Steve Cooley, L.A. County's district attorney, said the issue is not whether the bishop is performing a religious practice by counseling priests. It's whether a crime has been committed against children, he wrote in a court filing. "The criminal laws are neutral as concerns religion," Cooley wrote. "Investigation of these crimes is no more invasive of a religious institution than of an educational institution or a health institution." Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing victims in the church abuse civil suits, called the decision a victory for transparency. "Mahony has been successful in keeping secrets and avoiding accountability by one appeal after another, and this is the last road," Anderson said. "The denial of their petition was a giant step toward child protection and ultimate transparency." The case is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 05-1017.
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