Ghosts (aired October 5, 2005)
Fontana re-opens a 10-year-old murder investigation after a suspect in an unconnected case makes a deathbed confession. Fontana had thought the father had raped and murdered his 12-year-old daughter Sarah Dolan, but now goes after an accomplice to the suspect. Another confession is disqualified as a confidential communication to a minister.
- The judge's call about the confession seems to be right, if a little quick from the hip. According to New York law, confessions and confidences made to a clergyman or other minister are privileged and cannot be used as evidence. This privilege is not limited to communications with a particular kind of priest or congregant, and it is not confined to statements made "under the cloak of confession." What matters is that the conversations were of a spiritual nature, were confidential enough to indicate that the penitent intended that they be kept secret, and that the penitent did not waive the privilege subsequently.
Specifically, New York law (NY CPLR 4505 - on-line here) provides that: "Unless the person confessing or confiding waives the privilege, a clergyman, or other minister of any religion or duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, shall not be allowed to disclose a confession or confidence made to him in his professional character as a spiritual advisor."
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By Stephen Lee
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