DA to Decide Whether to Charge Bishop (for delayed reporting of abuse)

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: DA to Decide Whether to Charge Bishop
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 25, 2006

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) -- Sonoma County investigators said they have enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against a bishop who waited several days before reporting allegations of child sexual abuse by a fellow priest.

The delay by Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh may have allowed the Rev. Xavier Ochoa to flee to Mexico.

If prosecutors pursue the case, it would be the first time a U.S. bishop was charged with failing to disclose allegations of abuse. The final decision rests with the district attorney's office....

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Ochoa, 68, worked at St. Francis Solano Church in Sonoma before admitting misconduct in an April 28 meeting with Walsh and two other church officials. He was charged with 10 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of child sex abuse involving three boys....

***

State law requires clergymen to immediately report any suspicions of child sex abuse and to follow up by fax or e-mail within 36 hours. A violation has a potential penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Church-Abuse.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. It takes time to gather the courage to report a crime to the police.

We shouldn't go from one extreme of allowing clergy to go decades without reporting abuse, to putting clergy in jail for waiting several days.

[Kagemusha]

2. If he knew the priest was going to flee - or say, tipped him off, not good

But that'll be a matter for the courts (or not, if the prosecution declines)

[Eric J in MN]

3. The law seems to say that he'd be guilty even if he

..didn't know the priest was going to flee.

[Kagemusha]

4. While true re: the law, just saying, not all pauses are innocent.

Because if the priest who fled had no idea that the priest who reported a week after the fact that this girl had reported a crime to him, why the heck did he flee? So I wonder about that part.