- LDS positions: Unknown,
- Criminal case: Convicted,
- Civil case: No civil case,
Case report
This case arose in 1985 in Oregon.
The following information about LDS church member John Lee Cox comes from a court record:
“The defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court, Clackamas County, (Dale Jacobs, Judge), of two counts of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree attempted rape, and he appealed.
Before trial, he moved to suppress evidence of a statement that he had made on August 28, 1985, after he was indicted, to Beck, a marriage counselor and Mormon clergyman. In that statement, defendant admitted that he had had sexual intercourse with the victim, his step-daughter, once after he had joined the Mormon Church. The court denied the motion.
At trial, defendant moved separately to strike Beck’s testimony and for a mistrial. The court denied the motions. Defendant assigns the three rulings as errors. He asserts that they violated the clergy-penitent privilege under OEC 506. We agree and reverse. “
Case facts
- case report | facts | sources
- LDS mission: no
- Lived in: Oregon,
- During alleged crime, lived in: Oregon,
- Victims: 1 victim,
- Crime years: 1980s,
- Convicted in: 1980s,
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