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: Legal Blog Watch

Don't Stop at Church on the Way to Turn Yourself In

By Eric Lipman

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While confession may be good for the soul, it won't do much for your criminal record, at least not in Montana. The Religion Clause blog has a blurb about a case decided by a Montana trial court back in May where the court refused to suppress testimony about the defendant's confession to a pastor of his involvement in a homicide. I'm going on the blurb alone (those of you with access to Lexis can find the case, State v. Hardman, at 2010 Mont. Dist. Lexis 209), but the court seems to have premised its decision on two main factors. First, the pastor told the defendant that if he confessed to anything criminal, the pastor would notify the authorities. Seems like that would have been a good time to say, "Oh, criminal, me? No no no, just swung by to drop some ammo money in the collection plate. Bless you too." and hightail it out of there. But instead, said the court, the defendant waived any confidentiality by going on and spilling his guts. The court also cited the Montana statute covering confessions made to clergy: A clergyman or priest cannot, without the consent of the person making the confession, be...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 22, 2010 (boomark / email).