Talks With Suspect Private, Minister Says Pastor Says He’ll Go To Jail Rather Than Divulge Confession

In a case that pits religious freedom against the state’s right to evidence, a Tacoma minister is fighting attempts to make him divulge what a man accused of shaking his baby to death told him in private.

The Rev. Rich Hamlin, pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church, says he’s prepared to go to jail to protect the confidentiality of his conversations with Scott Anthony Martin.

Martin is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his 3-month-old son.

Pierce County prosecutors believe Martin admitted to Hamlin in July 1997 that he shook the baby, causing his death. Hamlin won’t say what Martin told him.

“As Christ’s representative, as a minister of the Gospel, I want to be able to tell people who come to me that the discussions we have, the confessions they make, are going to be held in confidence,” Hamlin told The News Tribune. “If I can’t provide an environment where I can do that, I’m going to inhibit that confession.”

State law says: “A member of the clergy or priest shall not, without the consent of a person making the confession, be examined as to any confession made to him or her in his or her professional character, in the course of discipline enjoined by the church to which he or she belongs.”

In the only previous challenge to the law, which dates back to the 1880s, the state Court of Appeals ruled in 1995 that the statute did not protect communication to a non-ordained Catholic counselor.

Kit Proctor, deputy prosecutor for Pierce County, said the law requires the person hearing the confession to be an ordained member of the clergy, and the confessor must be compelled by religious beliefs to confess. The confession must also adhere to the requirements for confessions of the clergy member’s church.

Hamlin’s talks with Martin didn’t meet these guidelines, Proctor said.

Under those limits, only the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal churches appear to qualify for the confidentiality privilege. Each has rites for confession to priests.

Some Protestants argue the standard is too strict.

“If it’s a Catholic priest, congratulations. If you’re a member of the church, congratulations,” said Steven McFarland, a lawyer with the Christian Legal Society in Virginia. “If you don’t fall into that small universe, tough luck, buddy.”