By David Ruppe
A
ug. 2
— A man's confession to fellow Alcoholics Anonymous
members to two killings was constitutionally protected
and shouldn't have been used against him, a federal
judge in New York ruled in overturning a 1995
manslaughter verdict.
The judge ruled, as had
previous New York appellate decisions, that Alcoholics
Anonymous — a self-described "spiritual"
fellowship dedicated to helping members stop drinking
and recover from alcoholism — engages in
constitutionally protected religious activity.
The man, 33-year-old
Paul Cox, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in
prison for the killings of two people in their home in
1988. Cox's arrest and conviction resulted from his
confessions to fellow Alcoholics Anonymous members,
according to Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Court
Judge Charles Brieant.
Such confessions are an
important of AA's famous "12 Step" program for
recovery, which AA says has helped more than 2 million
people stop drinking.
The group encourages
confessions and identities of members to remain
anonymous, so as not to discourage others from joining
and following the program.
AA
Ruled Religious
Brieant's judgment
hinged on his finding that Alcoholics Anonymous members
engage in religious activity as part of the program.
"The record before
this Court shows that in addition to the numerous
religious references in the Twelve Steps, meetings of AA
are closed with a recitation of The Lord's Prayer,"
he wrote.
Brieant also cites as
precedent, an earlier Court of Appeals ruling that AA
"is a religion," and so courts couldn't compel
persons to attend the meetings.
"He's bound by
that other case," said Father Robert Drinan, a
Georgetown University Law School professor.
Brieant said in his
ruling that while AA may not traditionally be called a
religion, the group engages in religious communications
that should be protected by the First Amendment.
The First Amendment
reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech
…."
"Clearly it is
possible as a matter of Constitutional law to have and
to practice a religion without having a clergyman as
such," Brieant wrote. "[I]f the state is
treating AA meetings with less protection than any other
form of religious communication which carries assurances
of confidentiality, a Constitutional violation
exists."
Not
a Religion
Lawyers representing
New York state argued the contrary: "There was no
evidence whatsoever that Alcoholics Anonymous is a
religious organization as required by statute, or that
another member is a clergyman or other member of any
religion or duly accredited Christian Science
practitioner."
Brieant "is
creating by judicial fiat an additional privilege that
is outside of the scope of the state Legislature,"
said David Hebert, the executive assistant district
attorney for Westchester County, where the case was
prosecuted.
Hebert contends AA
confessions should not be considered confidential
because AA says it is not a religion and is a
nonprofessional organization, whose members are not,
like doctors, lawyers or priests, trained to hear
confessions or other privileged information.
Further, he says Cox's
confessions were made outside of AA meetings.
"The intent of
privileges appears to apply almost exclusively, with the
possible exception of the spousal privilege, to
individuals who have some kind of professional duty,
obligation, knowledge," Hebert said. "This is
not the case in an Alcoholics Anonymous setting."
The district attorney's
office will appeal the decision, he said. Cox will be
held at least until that ruling.
What's
a Religious Communication?
Brieant noted New York
law states the Constitution protects confessions to a
clergyman or "other minister of any religion or
duly accredited Christian Science practitioner."
And, he wrote, previous
rulings by the New York federal Court of Appeals found
separately that, to avoid prejudice of one religion over
another, the protection would apply to confessions to
all spiritual advisers.
"Doctrinally and
as actually practiced in the Twelve Step methodology,
adherence to the AA fellowship entails engagement in
religious activity and religious proselytization,"
said a 1996 decision.
AA
Says It's Not a Religion
For its part,
Alcoholics Anonymous, in a fact sheet posted on its
national Web site, says it is not a religion: "No.
Nor is it allied with any religious organization."
A spokesperson for the
organization, however, said AA "considers ourselves
a spiritual organization."
That spiritual quality
is apparent in the 12 Step program. Step 3, for
instance, reads members have "made a decision to
turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him." For Step 5, members "admitted
to God, to ourselves and to another human being the
exact nature of our wrongs." Step 6 says members
"were entirely ready to remove all these defects of
character."
The AA spokesperson,
who requested anonymity in the organization's tradition,
said AA had no opinion on the court ruling.
It is group's policy
not to comment on "outside issues; hence the AA
name ought never be drawn into public controversy,"
said another brochure.
"AA should be
happy with this, because this vindicates the fact that
if you do confess and somebody squeals that can't be
used against you," says Drinan. "That's an
added incentive for these people to confess to each
other."
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