Maryland Supreme Court: State cannot publicize those unindicted for child sex abuse by clergy

The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Attorney General’s Office cannot publish the names of Archdiocese of Baltimore clergy and staff who were cited in a grand jury probe of sexual abuse of children, but never charged.

The ruling overturns two lower courts that had agreed with the attorney general that publishing the names was justified to “make public for the first time the enormous scope and scale of abuse and concealment perpetrated by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.”

But the high court said, in a 37-page opinion Monday, that allowing publication of the names would defeat one of the main reasons for the secrecy of grand jury proceedings: Preventing unindicted persons from being “held up to public ridicule.”

“One of the primary purposes of grand jury secrecy is to protect uncharged persons from public disgrace in the absence of a criminal charge and a forum in which to seek vindication,” said the opinion written by Justice Jonathan Biran. “To overcome an objection to disclosure of otherwise secret information about an uncharged individual, a requestor must show that disclosure will serve an interest beyond the public’s interest in learning the information.”

While there are some instances in which grand jury material might be releases, Biran wrote that a court “may not order disclosure of secret grand jury material, over the obje...