MO--Victim asks second court to sanction archbishop

Victim asks second court to sanction archbishop

His emergency writ appeal is “frivolous,” she says

For immediate release: Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, [email protected]

In a new 51 page court filing, a 20 year old St. Louis woman who says she was repeatedly molested by an already-convicted Catholic priest asks that St. Louis’ Catholic archbishop be punished for an allegedly “frivolous” recent motion he submitted to a Missouri appeals court.

Last month, Archbishop Robert Carlson was sanctioned by St. Louis Judge Robert Dierker, in the same case, for refusing – for more than six months - to turn over names of accused child molesting clerics to the young woman’s attorneys.

Carlson’s legal conduct, Dierker wrote, “borders on if not amounts to contempt.”

Now, however, the alleged victim in that case charges that in a “writ” filed days ago with an appeals court, Carlson is guilty of “misrepresentations” and “inaccuracies” and should be sanctioned again.

“After seven months of briefing, three motions to reconsider, four oral arguments and multiple instances of failure to comply by the (archdiocese),” Carlson still hasn’t turned over a single predator’s name to the woman’s lawyers/

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, applaud the young woman for “calling Carlson on his deceptive and increasingly desperate claims that are delaying justice and obscuring truth.”

 “For far too long, Catholic officials have played legal hardball against victims while engaging in seemingly endless delays and exploiting seemingly endless technicalities,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “But this is the most extreme recalcitrance we’ve ever seen by St. Louis church officials, this repeated flaunting of a judge’s order and these repeated falsehoods in legal filings.”

The girl, who was sexually violated for years (until around 2000) by Fr. Joseph D. Ross at St. Cronan’s parish in the city, is represented by attorneys Ken Chackes and Nicole Gorovsky. She filed her civil suit in 2011.

It’s not clear when the appellate court will rule on whether Dierker’s order will be upheld, modified, or overturned.