Com. v. Stewart

• Decision Date: 24 February 1997
• Citation: 547 Pa. 277,690 A.2d 195
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David G. STEWART, Jr. Appeal of the ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALLENTOWN, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 195

690 A.2d 195

547 Pa. 277

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David G. STEWART, Jr Appeal of the ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALLENTOWN, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Jan. 23, 1996.

Decided Feb. 24, 1997.

[547 Pa. 280] Philip J. Murren, Harrisburg, Maura K. Quinlan, Harrisburg, Thomas F. Traud, Jr., Allentown, for Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.

Michael Dennehy, Danville, for David Stewart.

Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO and NEWMAN, JJ.

OPINION

NEWMAN, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown (Diocese) appeals from the Superior Court Order affirming the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County (trial court), requiring the Diocese to produce documents to the trial court for an in camera review. This case raises an unusual question concerning the application of a testimonial privilege in a homicide trial. It presents our first opportunity to consider the scope of the privilege accorded confidential communications to members of the clergy. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

II. BACKGROUND

David G. Stewart, was charged with the murder of a Roman Catholic priest, Reverend Leo Heineman. In September of 1990, Stewart allegedly shot the priest to death at the Stewart home. In preparing his defense, Stewart subpoenaed documents from the Chancellor of the Diocese to support his position that he shot Reverend Heineman in self-defense. Specifically, Stewart requested Reverend Heinenman's personal records and the Diocese's records concerning the priest's alleged alcohol and/or drug abuse and sexual misconduct. Stewart argued that the church documents could help prove that he acted in self-defense because of Reverend Heineman's purported past violent conduct.

The Diocese produced certain documents but refused to produce those kept in its secret archives. According to the Diocese, its archives contain copies of all written communications between the bishop and his priests and notes of any oral communications between the bishop and priests, deemed confidential. Thus, the Diocese filed a motion to quash the subpoena with respect to the following categories of documents:

1. All reports, letters and other documents pertaining to any allegations of misconduct or other disciplinary action regarding Reverend Heineman.

2. Copies of any reports pertaining to any sexual misconduct by Reverend Heineman.

3. Copies of all personal records, correspondence, diaries or similar documents maintained by Reverend Heineman, whether such documents were maintained at Saint Mauritius Church or other locations.

4. Copies of any reports pertaining to any alcohol or other substance abuse or treatment by Reverend Heineman from 1986 to 1989.

The Diocese claimed that the clergy-communicant privilege, 42 Pa.C.S. § 5943, which precludes disclosure of confidential information provided to members of the clergy in the course of their duties, protects the requested documents from discovery. ¹ It also claimed that the compelled disclosure of documents kept in its archives pursuant to canon law would violate its right of free exercise of religion.

The trial court denied the Diocese's motion to quash the subpoena. Because the record failed to indicate whether the Diocese's representatives obtained the requested information in confidence while acting as counselors or confessors, the court ordered the Diocese to produce the documents for an in camera review to determine whether the clergy-communicant privilege applies. The trial court also rejected the Diocese's free exercise argument finding that canon law does not bind the court and that Stewart's compelling interest in a fair trial outweighed the Diocese's religious claims. The Superior Court affirmed the trial court. Commonwealth v. Stewart, 436 Pa.Super. 262, 647 A.2d 597 (1994).

III. SCOPE OF CLERGY-COMMUNICANT PRIVILEGE

The Pennsylvania statute protecting confidential information acquired by members of the clergy provides:

No clergyman, priest, rabbi or minister of the gospel of any regularly established church or religious organization, except clergymen or ministers, who are self-ordained or who are members of religious organizations in which members other than the leader thereof are deemed clergymen or ministers, who while in the course of his duties has acquired information from any person secretly and in confidence shall be compelled, or allowed without consent of such person, to disclose that information in any legal proceeding, trial or investigation before any government unit.

42 Pa.C.S. § 5943 (emphasis added).

In analyzing the scope of the clergy-communicant privilege, we must be mindful that evidentiary privileges are not favored. "[E]xceptions to the demand for every man's evidence are not lightly created nor expansively construed, for they are in derogation of the search for truth." Hutchison v. Luddy, 414 Pa.Super. 138, 146, 606 A.2d 905, 908 (1992)(quoting Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 175, 99 S.Ct. 1635, 1648, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979)). Thus, courts should accept testimonial privileges "only to the very limited extent that permitting a refusal to testify or excluding relevant evidence has a public good transcending the normally predominant principle of utilizing all rational means for ascertaining the truth." In re Grand Jury Investigation, 918 F.2d 374, 383 (3d Cir.1990)(quoting Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 46, 100 S.Ct. 906, 910, 63 L.Ed.2d 186 (1980)).

Considering these principles, Pennsylvania courts have interpreted our clergy-communicant privilege as applying only to confidential communications between a communicant and a member of the clergy in his or her role as confessor or spiritual counselor. See, e.g., Hutchison v. Luddy, 414 Pa.Super. 138, 146, 606 A.2d 905, 908 (1992); Commonwealth v. Patterson, 392 Pa.Super. 331, 572 A.2d 1258 (1990); Fahlfeder v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 80 Pa.Cmwlth. 86, 470 A.2d 1130 (1984).

In Hutchison, the plaintiff filed a civil action against a priest for alleged pedophilic acts and against the priest's diocese (collectively, the diocese) for the alleged negligent hiring and retention of the priest. During pre-trial discovery, the plaintiff sought, inter alia, the production of church documents concerning alleged sexual misconduct with minor male children by priests assigned to the diocese; the complete personnel files of specified priests; and documents kept by the diocese in its secret archives. The diocese refused to produce any documents contained in its secret archives.

The trial court ordered discovery of documents relating to incidents of actual or alleged sexual misconduct by priests with minor, male children and information concerning the assignment and transfer of priests. The court's Order, however, granted the church leave to present the documents for an in camera review before disclosure to the adverse party. After examining the relationship between canon and civil law, the statutory clergy-communicant privilege, and the constitutional right to freedom of religion, the Superior Court affirmed.

In reaching its decision, the Superior Court explained that the clergy-communicant privilege is limited to statements made in confidence to a member of the clergy for spiritual considerations or penitential purposes. The court stated that the mere fact that a communication is made to a member of the clergy, or that documentation is transmitted to a member of the clergy, is not sufficient alone to invoke the privilege. The court concluded that the diocese had failed to show that the communicant had disclosed the requested information in confidence to a member of the clergy in the context of a confession or spiritual matter.

The Hutchison court relied on the Patterson and Fahlfeder cases that examined whether the privilege protects inculpatory statements to members of the clergy acting in secular roles. In Patterson, a murder prosecution, a court assigned a priest to the defendant as a court-appointed counselor following the defendant's unrelated arrests for indecent exposure. At trial, the priest testified concerning the defendant's desire to confess to the murder. The Superior Court found no evidence in the record indicating that the defendant had communicated with the priest in his capacity as a minister rather than as a court-appointed counselor. The court, therefore, held that because the defendant's statements to the priest were not motivated by religious considerations, the trial court properly admitted the priest's testimony.

Fahlfeder involved communications to a clergyman who was the director of a residence to which the petitioner had been assigned as a condition of his parole for morals crimes involving young boys. At the petitioner's parole violation hearing, the director testified that the petitioner had admitted to associating with young boys while on parole. On appeal, the petitioner alleged error in the admission of the director's testimony. The Commonwealth Court held that the statutory clergy-communicant privilege does not prohibit all testimony by members of the clergy. Instead, the court stated that it is limited to information told in confidence to the clergy in their roles as confessors or counselors. The court concluded that the record did not establish a confessor/penitent relationship between the petitioner and the director or that the petitioner offered his admissions in confidence. The court determined that the director's role toward the petitioner was that of volunteer or auxiliary supervisor to help in his rehabilitation on parole. Without a showing that the director's role was one of confessor or confidant, the court held that the challenged admissions did not fall within the protection of the clergy-communicant privilege.

Nearly every jurisdiction in the United States has recognized a clergy-communicant privilege and, like Pennsylvania,...