Utah State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson told Latter-day Saint bishop not to report abuse while working as a lawyer for the church, court docs show utpol
A Utah lawmaker and prominent attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised a church bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to authorities, a decision that allowed the abuse to continue for years, according to records filed in a lawsuit.
According to the plaintiff’s legal filing, Nelson advised Bishop John Herrod not to report the abuse and told him “that he could be sued if he reported, and the instruction by counsel not to report Paul to the authorities was the law in Arizona and had nothing to do with Church doctrine.” But Arizona’s child sex abuse reporting law grants blanket legal immunity to anyone reporting child sex abuse or neglect.
Although the log doesn’t detail the subject of those communications, Roger Van Komen, manager of the church’s southeast region family services department, said in a deposition also included with the filing that Nelson discussed the case with Herrod. “It is intended and always has from the beginning been intended to to help victims get the help they need through social services, professional counseling, medical help, legal help, law enforcement,” Nelson said.
According to church documents, those answering the help line refer callers to church attorneys with Kirton McConkie if the allegations of abuse are serious. The attorneys then decide whether the callers should report the abuse. The sealed records included a list of questions that those answering the help line were to ask before referring calls to Kirton McConkie attorneys. The so-called “protocol” listed the names of several Kirton McConkie attorneys and their phone numbers, including Nelson’s.
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