Court cites clergy-penitent privilege in dismissing child sex abuse lawsuit against Mormon church

By MICHAEL REZENDES and JASON DEAREN
Associated Press

An Arizona Superior Court judge has dismissed a high-profile child sexual abuse lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ruling that church officials who knew that a church member was sexually abusing his daughter had no duty to report the abuse to police or social service agencies because the information was received during a spiritual confession. In a ruling on Friday, Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson said the state’s clergy-penitent privilege excused two bishops and several other officials with the church, widely known as the Mormon church, from the state’s child sex abuse mandatory reporting law because Paul Adams initially disclosed that he was sexually abusing his daughter during a confession to his bishop.