Catholic Church authorities in LA backtrack in sexual abuse case
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has duly reflected.
And with the “further reflection” recently noted by an attorney representing the archdiocese, that church body has withdrawn the earlier support it had extended to the Los Angeles Unified School District in a sexual abuse case involving a former teacher and a 14-year-old female student.
As noted by the Los Angeles Times, that case has steadily made its way up the judicial ladder, residing currently with the California Supreme Court.
In the trial court of first instance, a jury convicted the ex-teacher of lewd conduct with a minor and sentenced him to a three-year prison term. Jurors found the student partially to blame for the abuse, though, and exonerated the LAUSD of any criminal liability.
The appellate court reversed the decision, stating that the lower court applied the wrong standard of culpability when giving jury instructions. The appeals tribunal ruled that the trial judge should have instructed jury members that a plaintiff need only prove that a defendant had a “potential” to commit a sex crime, not a “dangerous propensity” to do so.
That reversal has again brought the LAUSD back to court, this time as a defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging its negligence.
And that is where the archdiocese has backtracked. The church body initially filed a letter with the Supreme Court supporting the school district (specifically, the higher proof standard posited by dangerous propensity), but withdrew that support quickly after the levying of much criticism from advocates of abuse victims.
The higher standard equates to “more protections for institutions that allow molestation instead of more protections for children,” stated one critic, who called the initial church stance “very offensive.”
The letter citing withdrawal of support for the school district stated that the archdiocese “supports justice for victims of abuse.”
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