A Baltimore judge on Tuesday ordered redactions may be lifted for all but three of the names blacked out from a report on the history of sex abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert K. Taylor also ordered the attorney general’s office may release a copy of the report with the redactions lifted after Sept. 26.
“Those who interpret either this Order or the Report as tantamount to an indictment of a particular individual are misinterpreting both the Report and the Order,” Taylor wrote. “With regard to the accused abusers, in some instances, the accusations may be false. With regard to the various religious and lay people who are now named (some of whom did not work for the Archdiocese of Baltimore), their conduct may have been entirely proper.
“These names are being released because the key to understanding the Report is understanding that this did not happen because of anything ‘the Archdiocese’ did or did not do. It happened because of the choices made by specific individuals at specific times.”
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General in April released the 456-page grand jury report, which detailed sexual abuse and cover-ups during the last 80 years within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. But the names of five archdiocesan officials and 10 church figures as well as other information were blacked out in the document.
Taylor ordered the five officials may be identified as well as nine of the alleged abusers. The report includes 31 other people who are not accused of abuse, but referenced in the report. The judge ordered all but two of those people may be identified.
“Most of the remaining individuals played relatively minor roles in the events described in the Report. In many instances, their conduct appears to be innocuous. Nonetheless, several individuals in this category opposed any efforts at publishing their names for fear of ‘guilt by association,’ Taylor wrote.
The story continues at the Baltimore Banner: Baltimore judge lifts most redactions in report on sex abuse within Archdiocese of Baltimore
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