As many as 15 people who knew that a Boise police officer had confessed to molesting babies will face no criminal charges. Ada County sheriff’s deputies investigated whether those people should be charged with failing to report the crimes. But deputies have determined that the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation that Stephen R. Young attended can’t be charged because of Idaho’s clergy privilege law.
And church officials say it’s because of that very clergy privilege that Young is in prison today.
“It was efforts of the church and its leaders that resulted in this matter coming to the attention of the authorities,” said Randy Austin, an attorney specializing in child abuse cases for the church in Salt Lake City. “From the moment Mr. Young confessed, church leaders took every precaution they legally could to protect victims and the public.
“And church leaders avoided violating the clergy privilege — a breach which could have tainted the evidence against Mr. Young and jeopardized his prosecution.”
The Idaho code that defines members of the clergy — including LDS lay bishops and stake presidents — allows people to confess crimes without fear of their confessions being reported to police. But LDS officials say church policy and practice is to urge such people to turn themselves in.
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