Tuesday, November 26, 2002
By Richard Nangle
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- A lawyer for the Telegram & Gazette argued before a
Superior Court judge yesterday that reporter Kathleen A. Shaw is protected from
having to divulge the specifics of conversations she had with a man who has sued
Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger alleging rape.
Meanwhile, diocesan lawyer James Gavin Reardon Jr. said he should be
allowed to take a deposition from Ms. Shaw, just as he would have the right as a
lawyer to ask questions of anyone who had spoken with an alleged rape victim.
The diocese subpoenaed Ms. Shaw in connection with her coverage of a
lawsuit filed in July by Sime Braio of Shrewsbury. The diocese contends that
Massachusetts law does not protect Ms. Shaw from having to testify and turn over
her notes.
The Telegram & Gazette, through Worcester lawyer David M. Ianelli of
Bowditch & Dewey, argues that Massachusetts courts have ruled that reporters are
not required to testify unless the value of the testimony “outweighs the
inevitable interference with the functioning of the free press.”
The subpoena directs Ms. Shaw to bring with her to a deposition “any and
all correspondence, notes, memoranda, photographs, charts, drawings and any and
all materials” in her possession regarding Mr. Braio, Bishop Rueger, lawyer
...... .. .... of Houston and the allegations made against the auxiliary bishop.
Mr. Ianelli said the Massachusetts Constitution and common law protect
reporters from having to reveal the contents of their confidential conversations
with sources. Also at issue, he said, is whether the information the diocese
seeks from Ms. Shaw is available through another source. Everything Ms. Shaw
wrote about the Braio lawsuit, he said, was gleaned from the lawsuit itself.
None of those news stories was based on information gleaned from Ms. Shaw's
confidential conversations with Mr. Braio, he said.
Mr. Reardon said he needs to know details about conversations Ms. Shaw was
having with Mr. Braio as far back as February. The diocese alleges that Mr.
Braio threatened to go public with his charge against Bishop Rueger unless the
diocese paid him a sum of money.
Judge C. Brian McDonald took the matter under advisement.
The newspaper argues that requiring Ms. Shaw's testimony would impede her
ability to protect confidential, unpublished information and would intrude upon
the editorial process.
But the diocese counters that unlike many states, Massachusetts does not
have a press shield law and that the state Supreme Judicial Court is on record
refusing to create one.
Mr. Ianelli said Ms. Shaw's source network has dried up since the diocesan
subpoena became public. “Her telephone has stopped ringing,” he said. And if the
public comes to believe that reporters cannot protect their confidential
sources, Mr. Ianelli said, the press will lose the credibility it needs to be
effective.
Mr. Reardon said Mr. Braio and Mr. ...., by virtue of not being present in
court yesterday, have not shown that they object to Ms. Shaw being deposed. Mr.
Shea, however, has said he does not support the diocesan effort to gain
testimony from a reporter.
If alleged victims are no longer calling the newspaper, Mr. Reardon said,
that might have more to do with the fact that new revelations in the priest
scandal are on the wane.
Mr. Reardon added he would like to question Ms. Shaw about conversations
she may have had with Mr. .... regarding the Braio lawsuit.
The diocese has already deposed James J. Gribouski, a Worcester lawyer who
once represented Mr. Braio but who declined to file suit against Bishop Rueger
on his behalf. Mr. Gribouski made that decision after receiving a letter from a
psychiatrist who evaluated Mr. Braio and concluded that his symptoms could not
be related to sexual abuse.
Ms. Shaw has interviewed the alleged victim and written several news
accounts of the lawsuit, filed on Mr. Braio's behalf in July by Mr. Shea.
Mr. Braio's lawsuit alleges that Bishop Rueger, then a parish priest, began
sexually molesting him in the early 1960s when he was 13. The suit alleges that
the abuse resulted in behavior that landed Mr. Braio, now 52, in the former
Lyman School for Boys in Westboro.
The diocese says its own investigation cleared Bishop Rueger of any
wrongdoing. Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte has said his office and
state police investigators could not substantiate the charges.
The diocese claims that on at least three occasions, Mr. Braio attempted to
extort up to $10,000 from church officials in exchange for his silence on the
matter. Mr. Conte's office is investigating the diocese's accusations of
extortion attempts.
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