BARNSTABLE (MA)
Cape Cod Times
By KAREN JEFFREY
STAFF WRITER
BARNSTABLE – A Superior Court judge will decide by next week whether a Roman Catholic priest can refuse to tell a grand jury what he knows about the murder of a Falmouth man.
Judge Richard Connon spent about 90 minutes in a closed courtroom yesterday listening to arguments from attorneys on both sides of the issue.
Connon closed the hearing to the public because the material discussed was part of an on-going grand jury proceeding investigating the murder of Jonathan Wessner, 20.
Grand jury proceedings are secret.
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe was expected to argue yesterday that conversations between Wessner’s accused killer, Paul R. Nolin, 39 of Falmouth, and the Rev. Bernard Kelly do not fall under the category of privileged speech between clergy and penitent.
He was expected to argue that Kelly and Nolin had a social relationship that falls outside the purview of that protection and therefore Kelly must tell investigators what he knows about Wessner’s murder.
