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CNN Live Today

Cardinal Law Undergoes Third Questioning Session

Aired May 13, 2002 - 11:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move east to Boston. The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, has gone into a third round of intense questioning under oath in the child sex abuse scandal.

Let's get the latest on this morning's deposition. And for that we go to Jason Carroll in Boston -- Jason, good morning once again.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you again, Daryn.

The third day of the deposition is underway. Both parties will break at about noon. They're going to take a break for about an hour and then they're going to get back to work.

Cardinal Law arrived for his deposition earlier this morning, just a few minutes before it was scheduled to begin. He was joined by one of his assistants. His attorney joining him as well early this morning.

The attorney representing 86 plaintiffs in the case says that today he's going to focus on two subjects. First, why Cardinal Law allowed John Geoghan to have access to children, even though that there were allegations of sexual abuse. Geoghan was defrocked, and earlier this year he was convicted of molesting a young child.

Two, Mitchell Garabedian will also focus on why the archdiocese backed out of multi-million dollar settlement agreement that it had reached with the 86 plaintiffs in the case. Last week, during the deposition process, Law said that the finance council from the Archdiocese of Boston had overruled his decision to pay on that settlement. He also said he could not remember certain details surrounding allegations of abuse and John Geoghan.

One of Geoghan's alleged victims is attending today's deposition, and he says that the cardinal continues to suffer from a case of selective amnesia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK KEANE, ALLEGED VICTIM: I blame him for what happened to me as a child. And when he says, "I don't recall," and he doesn't recall these huge chunks of very pertinent information, he's -- I feel justified that he's guilty. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Transcripts from Friday's and today's proceedings will not be immediately available, and that's because the judge presiding over the case, Constance Sweeney, blocked the release of the transcripts. Attorneys representing the Archdiocese of Boston said that they needed more time to review those documents before the release. They're going to get about 30 days in order to do that.

Mitchell Garabedian also said that he's going to need more time probably to depose Cardinal Law, even though that today is supposed to be the last day of the deposition. He said he might need an additional day or two in order to continue in questioning Cardinal Law -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jason Carroll in Boston -- Jason, thank you. We will check back with you throughout the morning.

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