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Law Deposition Tapes Released
Aired August 13, 2002 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have just been able to get some -- a very late developing story here, new developments in this story. Cardinal Law, the Boston cardinal who is being -- who was deposed two months ago, I believe it was...
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: June 5, June 7.
HARRIS: June 5. He was deposed in a civil lawsuit that was being filed against him and the archdiocese because of accusations that Cardinal Law had been moving around a particular priest, Paul Shanley, who had been accused of molesting boys in the church.
Brian Cabell has actually been able to listen to the first moments of these tapes. How much of this is available right now?
CABELL: Seven and half hours is coming down right now, Leon. We have listened to about an hour so far. We have come up with a couple of nuggets, some substantive excerpts so far. This is the first of two that he was deposed, June 5, in this particular case. As I say, seven and a half hours altogether, June 5 and June 7. He is also being deposed again today.
The questions surrounding Cardinal Law are basically what did he know, was he trying to hide things regarding certain priests, and this particular case is an excerpt from one Father Graham. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RODERICK MACLEISH, ATTORNEY: You are aware that in 1988 there was an allegation made against Father Daniel Graham, and Daniel Graham admitted to the allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor. You aware of that?
CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, ARCHBISHOP OF BOSTON: I am.
MACLEISH: OK. And that was in 1988, is that correct?
LAW: Well, I can't speak to the date, but I was aware of the fact that there had been an allegation.
MACLEISH: And did Daniel Graham continue in ministry in Quincy (ph) after he had admitted to molesting a minor?
LAW: He was allowed to continue, yes. After intervention from -- by a medical source.
MACLEISH: But you are aware that he admitted the allegation, are you not?
LAW: That's correct.
MACLEISH: And he was allowed to continue in ministry in Quincy (ph), I believe, is that correct?
LAW: That's correct.
MACLEISH: And were the parishoners of the church in Quincy (ph) informed when Father Graham was their pastor that he had admitted to molesting a child.
LAW: Mr. MacLeish, the answer to that is no, based on my prior response, which I have already given you, that our present policy is to inform parishes. It was not the policy in '88, '89, '90, '91, '84, '85, '86, '87.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Again, this is a deposition given by Cardinal Law on June 5, just released this morning. In fact, we are listening to it right now. We will be listening to it all day, as a matter of fact, and, as a matter of fact, Leon, he is being deposed once again today. This is a third day of depositions for Cardinal Law.
HARRIS: Do we know how many hours in total there will be?
CABELL: No, we don't. Well, we have seven and a half so far that have already been taped and finally been released to the media. Today, we don't know how long that will go.
HARRIS: Now, as I understand it, there was a reason why there was a two-month wait here in the release of these tapes.
CABELL: Well, essentially, the archdiocese wanted to hold on to it. They wanted to hold back, and the media were fighting for it, the defendants were fighting to get it released, and it has finally been released this morning.
HARRIS: Very interesting, the comparisons that will be made, the comments that were made by Cardinal Law, both going into that bishop's conference that held in June, going into that conference and statements that were made on his behalf to those who were supporting him. There were lots of calls for his resignation. It will be interesting to see the comparisons between the statements that he made back then and what we are going to find out on this tape.
CABELL: His overall demeanor, he looks reasonably calm so far. He is very soft spoken, not argumentative by any means, so what we have seen so far, he looks as though he is handling it very well, but as I say, we have got seven and half hours to look at.
HARRIS: OK, good deal. We will let you get back to it then. Brian Cabell here with that remarkable development. Thank you very much.
CABELL: Sure.
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