A conversation with a religious leader is not protected from being revealed in court unless it occurred in private and the leader was acting as a spiritual adviser, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Wednesday.
\nA unanimous three-judge panel of the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that a pastor’s testimony should be allowed at a trial in which a father is facing charges of sexually molesting his two daughters.<\/p>\n
While the conversation occurred in private, the pastor did not offer to keep it confidential. Nor did he purport to be acting in the role of a spiritual adviser, and he explicitly refused to counsel the man.<\/p>\n
“The conversations between defendant and (the pastor) are not protected by the privilege,” wrote Judge Lorraine Parker.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors, who had sought to have the pastor’s testimony included at an upcoming trial, said they were happy with the decision.<\/p>\n