The grand jury probe by Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, who never met a camera he didn’t like, has completed his eight-month grand jury probe into the Scandal in Boston.
According to victims who met with Reilly on Monday, he will not be bringing indictments against anyone. But then I said that when he first began the probe last year. The law just doesn’t allow him to do that. So what are his options?
Short of indictments, those avenues include the striking of a civil agreement between the AG’s office and the church or a report from the grand jury detailing the abuses, or no action at all.
A spokeswoman for Reilly declined comment. Speaking generally on grand jury and Attorney General powers, Boston College law professor Michael Cassidy said Reilly could invoke his role as the trustee of public charities to strike an enforceable settlement.
“They could draft a complaint and draft a settlement in which (the church) agrees it violated certain obligations as a public charity,” he said. “Basically you would be opening and closing a civil case in the same day.”
But since the Church is a religious institution and not primarily a charitable institution, I find that to be a longshot. That’s a bit of a stretch.
The most likely outcome is that there will be a damaging report telling us what we already know, but giving Reilly a chance to hold a big press conference and get on the front page of all the local papers. But he’ll wait until the war is over so that he won’t have to compete with it.
