Will The Cardinal Be Indicted?
by Philip Shenon |
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| No U.S. Catholic leader has been prosecuted for the church's child sex abuse scandals. But law-enforcement officials are weighing obstruction and perjury charges against Cardinal Roger Mahony—and studying emails showing Mahony discussing with his lawyers ways to avoid giving law enforcement the names of abusive priests. Philip Shenon reports. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles faces the prospect of an unwelcome retirement gift when he steps down in February: A federal indictment. Law-enforcement officials tell The Daily Beast that prosecutors are weighing charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury against the 74-year-old cardinal and his deputies over allegations that they covered up rampant child sexual abuse within the archdiocese of Los Angeles. The cardinal denies wrongdoing and insists he has been assured he is not a target of the federal inquiry. But officials with knowledge of the grand jury's work say that Mahony remains at the center of the Justice Department's two-year-old investigation. Federal prosecutors are paying special attention to seemingly damning emails between the cardinal and his lawyers—in which Mahony outlined tactics to avoid providing prosecutors with the names of abusive priests, the officials said. The official said the Justice Department has received important assistance from the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office; a related investigation by the D.A.'s office stalled because of the restrictive statute of limitations under California state law. No charges are imminent, the official said. But "the church would like to pretend this investigation has gone away. It hasn't." The cardinal's lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, said in an interview he was "unaware of any indictable crime that might have been conducted by any church official" in the hierarchy of the archdiocese, including Mahony. |
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