Juan_P Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 LDS bishop ordered to stand trial for witness tampering, failure to report abuse charges | Deseret NewsI read about this here somewhere on these boards.Now the judge has ruled that Bishop Moon should stand trial for "witness tampering, a third-degree felony, and failure to report abuse, a class B misdemeanor"Hopefully he'll avoid a conviction and especially jail time seeing he was probably more naive than criminal imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMGuy Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Ignorantia juris non excusat. I hope he gets a fair trial, but this is EXACTLY why the church set up an abuse hotline. If we are going to have individuals that are untrained in their responsibilities under law, then they need to have somewhere that they can go to for advice. While we see bishops as Judges in Israel, in most cases they are not judges (or attorneys, or trained counselors for that matter) in the legal entity in which they reside. This is one of the things that happens when you have a lay clergy. You have to take the bad along with the good. -RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palerider Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 There are resources in place that you can go to for advice on any situation. Just like any story there are always 2 sides to a story and sometimes 3 sides. Its unfortunate this Bishop is having to go thru this. There are resources in place for Bishops to get help and advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroTypical Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Hopefully he'll avoid a conviction and especially jail time seeing he was probably more naive than criminal imho.Hi Juan_P,I have to admit, you're coming down lighter on the bishop than I am. I assume you don't get to be president of the Duchesne County School Board by being ignorant of how to handle allegations of assault. I sure know you don't get to be bishop without being presented with a little information.* As RMGuy said, there's a phone number bishops are trained to call to get advice about such matters. That phone number won't be answered by anyone who will instruct the bishop to tell the alleged victim to not report out of worry about how hard it will make things on the alleged perpetrator.* On top of that, bishops do receive training on their responsibilities in this area. And the training is on how to protect victims, not how to urge victims to protect perpetrators.* And even further than that, once or twice a year in our church's General Conference, every member who is listening gets clear, unambiguous direction about how we do not suffer abusers, and how abusers are in violation of God's and possibly man's law, and will be held accountable for their actions. * Anyway, with all those above points, the church feels pretty comfortable putting some advice in our widely-read For The Strength of Youth pamphlets, which say in part:Victims of rape, incest, or other sexual abuse are not guilty of sin. If you have been a victim of any of these crimes, know that you are innocent and that God loves you. Seek your bishop’s counsel immediately so he can help guide you through the process of emotional healing.Anyway, yes, the facts aren't always apparent in news stories, and yes, news stories are all we're going off of right now. We shouldn't rush to judge one way or the other based on media reports. I do have a hard time digesting this little tidbit from the link:Leavitt, during the preliminary hearing, argued that the girl never clearly told Moon she had been sexually abused. She only told the bishop that "something had happened" between herself and the boy, Leavitt said.He also pointed out that his client was at least the sixth person to know about the abuse before police were contacted, but is the only person charged with a crime.So which is it? How exactly did the bishop join the growing ranks of those who "know about the abuse", if "the girl never clearly told"?Oy. The other new bit of info coming from this link, is the offender is related to the girl. Not sure if this means cousin or brother or what. Edited February 9, 2012 by Loudmouth_Mormon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just_A_Guy Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Even more interesting to me is that it appears Bishop Moon continues to serve as bishop of his ward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dravin Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Even more interesting to me is that it appears Bishop Moon continues to serve as bishop of his ward.As a general rule does the Church act on charges (by removal from callings or discipline) or does it wait until conviction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroTypical Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 The church can convene a disciplinary council whenever it needs to, and can reach it's own conclusion and act on it independently of any judicial system outcome.There was an open question from earlier in this case - whether the church would act in bishop Moon's defense by assigning a lawyer or paying legal fees. I don't know if that has happened or not - but it looks like his lawyer, David Leavitt, is pretty well known and has his own wikipedia page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dravin Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 The church can convene a disciplinary council whenever it needs to, and can reach it's own conclusion and act on it independently of any judicial system outcome.I wasn't suggesting it couldn't act independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMGuy Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) As a general rule does the Church act on charges (by removal from callings or discipline) or does it wait until conviction?As a general rule, the counsel is to await the decision of the court it depends on the charges, however there are a number of factors that a presiding officer needs to take into consideration:1. The seriousness of the transgression - while we think of sin as sin, there are somethings that are worse than others....including: murder, incest, child abuse, etc. 2. The position of the individual. - we hold bishops to a higher degree of accountability than gospel doctrine teachers for example. Also, level of priesthood held, and whether or not endowed is an important consideration.3. Level of knowledge - things that are public knowledge are generally dealt with quicker than things that are not. etc. Based on my knowledge of, and experience with church discipline process, I am surprised that the individual is still serving as bishop while this is going on...after all, one of the reasons to hold church discipline is to "protect the good name of the church". However, I am also certain that the stake president in this instance has a much greater awareness of the situation and facts that we do, or the paper does. I'll respect his decision.-RM*edited for clarity Edited February 9, 2012 by RMGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpacktr Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 · Hidden Hidden However, I am also certain that the stake president in this instance has a much greater awareness of the situation and facts that we do, or the paper does. I'll respect his decision. Wow, big of you.... Link to comment
sixpacktr Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 · Hidden Hidden However, I am also certain that the stake president in this instance has a much greater awareness of the situation and facts that we do, or the paper does. I'll respect his decision.Wow...that's big of you... Link to comment
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