Bruce R. Christensen feels wronged.
Earlier this month, charges against the LDS bishop accused of failing to report the sexual abuse of a 13-month-old girl were dropped. He is questioning how the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office handled his case and the statute that allowed the charges to be filed in the first place.
Christensen, 60, was charged with the class B misdemeanor after the baby's mother allegedly told the bishop she saw her estranged husband, 43-year-old Hassane Adib, abuse their daughter in July 1999. Christensen was charged in July of this year after Adib was charged with lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor. Adib is scheduled for trial Nov. 28 before 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton.
Although the charges against Christensen were filed three months ago, Christensen said deputy district attorney Angela Micklos did not speak to the baby's mother until mid-September. And when she did, the woman's story had changed from what she originally told police and the charges were dropped.
"Why did the prosecutor wait to interview the primary witness?" Christensen asked. "Why wasn't the primary witness interviewed before the charge was filed?"
Micklos acknowledged this week she did not personally speak with the woman until the week of Sept. 18 but maintains her office acted appropriately in relying on the police report for information.
"It is very routine for us in filing charges to use the police officer's information," Micklos said, adding it would be nearly impossible to interview all victims before cases are filed. "Unfortunately that's not terribly practical. We'd have our office flooded with victims all the time."
The woman's story about the alleged abuse has not changed, Micklos said, but her story regarding her conversation with Christensen has. She originally told police she discussed the alleged sexual encounter with her bishop, which led to the case against Christensen. But when Micklos interviewed the woman, she said she simply presented the bishop with a hypothetical situation, omitting facts about the alleged abuse. Since the law doesn't require hypothetical situations to be reported, the case against Christensen was dismissed.
Christensen contends if Micklos had spoken with the woman before charges were filed, a resolution would have been reached sooner, and everyone involved would have been spared a lot of heartache.
The mother could not be reached for comment.
Christensen also said the failure-to-report statute failed in this situation.
"The way this law is written and applied, victims of abuse may have to relive several times over the circumstances of their abuse in order to convict their clergy, counselors or other confidants in whom they have confided," Christensen said. "Surely, we can find a better way to protect victims of abuse and those who try to help those victims."
Utah law requires any person with knowledge of child sexual abuse to report the crime, and those who do not can face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Clergy are exempt only if information about the abuse comes from the perpetrator directly.
The statute puts clerics in an unfair position and must be changed, Christensen said.
"The law ties my hands as well as those of every other clergyman in the state of Utah," he said. "I cannot be both a police informant and a confidant to my parishioners at the same time, and this law requires me to do both."
The statute has been at the center of attention this year with similar cases filed against LDS bishops in Sandy and St. George. Those two cases were resolved through a diversion agreement, a legal procedure that calls for an eventual dismissal of the charges.
In previous interviews with the Deseret News, Micklos has defended the constitutionality of the failure-to-report statute and said she was prepared to argue its merits in court, if necessary.
"I'm not sure it's ever been challenged before," Micklos said. "But the statute is constitutional on its face."
Micklos also defended her office's handling of Christensen's case, saying the charges would be no different if levied against anyone else in a position of power.
"The case was brought to us; we examined it and decided there was something there," Micklos said. "It certainly is no personal attack against him."
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com