The federal prosecutor and his strategy

The print edition of today's L.A. Times has an editorial that criticizes the unusual legal strategy being pursued by the federal prosecutor who is behind the current federal grand jury probe of Cardinal Roger Mahony and other officials of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The prosecutor's name is Thomas P. O'Brien. The same edition of the Times also has a news article (click on this post's title) about previous cases O'Brien has pursued. The news story says:

"In each of these cases, O'Brien, a former Navy Top Gun instructor and gang prosecutor in the district attorney's office, has either taken on battles that others may have shied away from or employed novel -- some would say shaky -- legal strategies to make his case."

The news story quotes a spokesman for O'Brien:

"'Everything we do is in the pursuit of justice. We have used innovative legal theories in an effort to vindicate the victims of criminal activity. While this may have generated criticism in some circles, we stand by our decisions.'"

In a press release today, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights criticized O'Brien. You can see the release at: http://www.catholicleague.org/

As I said yesterday, were it not for the past "mishandling" of clergy molestation cases, the federal prosecutor would have less excuse for his probe of the Archdiocese.