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American Morning

Bishop Resigns in Wake of Fatal Hit and Run Charges

Aired June 18, 2003 - 08:14   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.


BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: From Phoenix today, Thomas O'Brien has resigned as bishop of the city's Roman Catholic diocese. The pope, Pope John Paul II, accepted that resignation a few hours ago after the bishop was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal hit and run accident on Saturday evening.
Two weeks ago, O'Brien had agreed to a deal that protected him from prosecution on charges that he covered up sex abuse in his diocese by priests.

Maricopa County attorney Rick Romley is our guest to talk about it from Phoenix.

Sir, good morning to you.

RICK ROMLEY, MARICOPA COUNTY ATTORNEY: Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing fine, thank you.

Two investigations, one on the sex abuse charges, one now on this hit and run. This resignation in the Vatican. Any impact on what you're doing out there in Phoenix?

ROMLEY: No, I don't believe it will have any significant impact. We are still winding down the investigation of priests being involved in sexual abuse of children. That doesn't seem to be thwarted in any way. The agreement that the bishop had entered into, where he admitted that he had transferred priests after he had knowledge that they had been committing acts of sex abuse against children, still stands in effect.

On the hit and run, where there's a fatality that is involved, I don't see any significant impact there. And we are continuing to investigate, of course, trying to create a better picture, a complete picture of what occurred before the accident, as well as afterwards.

HEMMER: There were some reports coming out about what the bishop has talked about with police. And "The Washington Post" is reporting that he's given vague and conflicting accounts of what happened Saturday night.

Has that been the case with your investigation?

ROMLEY: Yes. There is some inconsistency there. And that deals with what happened after the accident. It's very critical for us to try to get into sort of the state of the mind of the bishop at the time of the accident, because under Arizona law, we must show that he either knew, or that a reasonable person under the circumstances should have known that he hit a person.

And what we've been able to ascertain is that the bishop thought that he had hit a dog or a cat. That was his statement.

However, we have additional information that shows that he didn't immediately report it to the police. In fact, we had tried to contact him the following day, was unsuccessful, we contacted another priest who did call the bishop to tell him that the police were looking for him in regards to the fatal accident, and he did not do it. And, in fact, the following day after that, Monday, he had told his secretary to replace the windshield.

So those facts are going to be critical that we can present to a jury so that they can make that determination.

HEMMER: At this point, would you rate him cooperative or not?

ROMLEY: He's -- I mean, he has spoken to law enforcement. Now he does have an attorney and he won't speak anymore, which is his constitutional right. But initially he can give some initial statements.

HEMMER: "The Washington Post" says there were drops of blood found on his car. Have you been able to determine whether this is human blood or, as he maintains, it could be that of a dog or a cat?

ROMLEY: We're still in the process at this time to do the DNA matching. As well as we've been able to obtain some hair out of the windshield, where the body made its greatest impact. So that is still in the process. But we did have an eyewitness to the account, as well.

HEMMER: A couple seconds left here. Was alcohol involved in this?

ROMLEY: We don't know. The bishop did indicate that he had been in a confirmation ceremony earlier in the day, and that he had sipped some wine. Of course we want to know that.

That's why we're asking to go back and talk to the parishioners. Did he appear to be impaired. How much wine did he drink? Because that would possibly lead to other charges, if he was impaired.

HEMMER: Jim Reed was not a small man, six feet tall, 235 pounds, age 43, killed on Saturday evening.

Rick Romley, county attorney in Maricopa County. Thank you, sir.

ROMLEY: Thank you, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 18, 2003 - 08:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: From Phoenix today, Thomas O'Brien has resigned as bishop of the city's Roman Catholic diocese. The pope, Pope John Paul II, accepted that resignation a few hours ago after the bishop was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal hit and run accident on Saturday evening.
Two weeks ago, O'Brien had agreed to a deal that protected him from prosecution on charges that he covered up sex abuse in his diocese by priests.

Maricopa County attorney Rick Romley is our guest to talk about it from Phoenix.

Sir, good morning to you.

RICK ROMLEY, MARICOPA COUNTY ATTORNEY: Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing fine, thank you.

Two investigations, one on the sex abuse charges, one now on this hit and run. This resignation in the Vatican. Any impact on what you're doing out there in Phoenix?

ROMLEY: No, I don't believe it will have any significant impact. We are still winding down the investigation of priests being involved in sexual abuse of children. That doesn't seem to be thwarted in any way. The agreement that the bishop had entered into, where he admitted that he had transferred priests after he had knowledge that they had been committing acts of sex abuse against children, still stands in effect.

On the hit and run, where there's a fatality that is involved, I don't see any significant impact there. And we are continuing to investigate, of course, trying to create a better picture, a complete picture of what occurred before the accident, as well as afterwards.

HEMMER: There were some reports coming out about what the bishop has talked about with police. And "The Washington Post" is reporting that he's given vague and conflicting accounts of what happened Saturday night.

Has that been the case with your investigation?

ROMLEY: Yes. There is some inconsistency there. And that deals with what happened after the accident. It's very critical for us to try to get into sort of the state of the mind of the bishop at the time of the accident, because under Arizona law, we must show that he either knew, or that a reasonable person under the circumstances should have known that he hit a person.

And what we've been able to ascertain is that the bishop thought that he had hit a dog or a cat. That was his statement.

However, we have additional information that shows that he didn't immediately report it to the police. In fact, we had tried to contact him the following day, was unsuccessful, we contacted another priest who did call the bishop to tell him that the police were looking for him in regards to the fatal accident, and he did not do it. And, in fact, the following day after that, Monday, he had told his secretary to replace the windshield.

So those facts are going to be critical that we can present to a jury so that they can make that determination.

HEMMER: At this point, would you rate him cooperative or not?

ROMLEY: He's -- I mean, he has spoken to law enforcement. Now he does have an attorney and he won't speak anymore, which is his constitutional right. But initially he can give some initial statements.

HEMMER: "The Washington Post" says there were drops of blood found on his car. Have you been able to determine whether this is human blood or, as he maintains, it could be that of a dog or a cat?

ROMLEY: We're still in the process at this time to do the DNA matching. As well as we've been able to obtain some hair out of the windshield, where the body made its greatest impact. So that is still in the process. But we did have an eyewitness to the account, as well.

HEMMER: A couple seconds left here. Was alcohol involved in this?

ROMLEY: We don't know. The bishop did indicate that he had been in a confirmation ceremony earlier in the day, and that he had sipped some wine. Of course we want to know that.

That's why we're asking to go back and talk to the parishioners. Did he appear to be impaired. How much wine did he drink? Because that would possibly lead to other charges, if he was impaired.

HEMMER: Jim Reed was not a small man, six feet tall, 235 pounds, age 43, killed on Saturday evening.

Rick Romley, county attorney in Maricopa County. Thank you, sir.

ROMLEY: Thank you, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com