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Judge Jeff Thompson issued a six-page ruling in Winona County District Court on Monday that denied motions filed on behalf of the Rev. Donald Dean Budd.
Budd’s attorneys had asked Thompson to dismiss the charges based on what they called an unconstitutional statute, as well as motions to suppress evidence and statements Budd, 64, made to investigators and his victim.
The Winona County District Court held off on making those decisions earlier in the proceedings almost a year ago, because a very similar case with identical challenges was being heard by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The high court split on the constitutionality of a statute, which Budd’s lawyers referred to, that makes it illegal for clergy members to engage in sexual activity with those they religiously counsel. That decision forced Budd’s attorney, Rich McCluer, and Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean and Assistant County Attorney Tom Gort to rely on their own arguments, instead of the Supreme Court’s opinion.
McCluer argued the statute was too vague and excessively entangled religion and government. He specifically took issue with the phrase, “religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort.” He argued those could mean different things to different religions, and it’s not up to the government to decide that. Vague wording such as “ongoing” should be better defined by the Legislature, McCluer wrote.
MacLean and Gort wrote the vagueness argument was hypothetical and had been defined for decades. They also cited part of the Supreme Court decision that found the statute was neutral, not secular and did not incorporate religious doctrine.
Thompson agreed with MacLean and Gort by citing the Supreme Court decision:
“The defendant has not demonstrated that all or most applications of the clergy sexual conduct statute would
foster excessive entanglement of government and religion,” Thompson said.
All evidence gathered by investigators will be allowed, including a surreptitiously recorded conversation between Budd and the alleged victim in a restaurant. During the conversation, Budd acknowledged he’d had several sexual encounters with her.
Although McCluer lost the decision, he said the ruling was “not unanticipated.”
“The fact the Supreme Court came to an ambiguous decision — essentially tying — makes it hard to reach a conclusive result,” he said. “We think there’s further appellate litigation to be done in Minnesota before there’s any certainty regarding the status of the law.”
Budd is scheduled to return to court July 30 for an arraignment, when he will enter pleas of not guilty to 10 charges he had sexual contact with a woman who came to him for spiritual advice in July 2003 after her grandfather died, McCluer said.
A pretrial hearing and jury trial is expected to follow.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
