Father Michael's Case Continued; Arrest Warrants to Remain Sealed

Judge Hillary B. Strackbein sided with Assistant State's Attorney Christian Watson and agreed to keep sealed the arrest warrant for Father Michael Miller of St. Paul Church in Kensington until his next scheduled appearance, Aug. 16.

Miller did not appear at the hearing but was represented by his lawyer, William St. John of Southbury.

Miller was arrested on five felony counts of risk of injury to a minor and a misdemeanor obscenity charge on July 12.

As part of an ongoing investigation, police served a warrant earlier this month on Miller, 41, pastor of Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Kensington. Miller was processed and released after posting a $150,000 bond. His case was ordered sealed by the court and no additional information has been released since then.

Miller had been hospitalized since July 4 when he was taken by Life Star helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. Mystery has surrounded the circumstances of his illness or injuries, though the Hartford Archdiocese acknowledged recently that Miller was under investigation and that the Franciscan Friars and Archdiocese were cooperating with the investigation. 

New Britain Herald reporter Lisa Backus testified in court that the public and specifically the parish at St. Paul Church had the right to know what the charges were.

"The prosecutor has said something to the effect that it is no interest of the public but the church has been rocked by these allegations," said Backus, a Berlin resident. "The past several weeks the church has resorted to defending itself in the bulletin and asking if there are any other victims to come forward and seek the help of the police. It also undermines the credibility of the victim to keep the documents sealed.

"This is a person the community put all its trust into and any parent would want to know what to look out for. The name of the victim can certainly be redacted, but like I said, this community has been rocked by this and should know all the information."

Watson asked the judge to keep the documents sealed and called Berlin Police Detective Brian Dumais to testify.

Watson asked if the investigation was ongoing and Dumais said it was. Watson then asked if opening the documents would hinder the investigation in a negative way and again Dumais answered in the affirmative.

When asked why it would be negative, Dumais said, "evidence is still being processed in the case."

Later, when asked if his testimony meant there might be more victims or simply that the evidence was still being processed, Dumais said, "I have no further comment at this time."

Judge Strackbein then addressed the court, which was made up of several reporters and a few other onlookers.

"There is a balancing act whether the documents should remain sealed or opened," Strackbein said. "I agree with Ms. Backus that this person was a public figure who had the trust of the community, but I believe that at this time they should remained sealed because completion of the investigation overrides the public interest.

"I will grant three weeks, until August 16. I think that is adequate time and then want the warrant to be redacted to protect victims and their identification in the papers. At that time it will be unsealed."

Watson will have to file another motion before Aug. 16 if he and the Berlin Police Department need more time to process the evidence.

Miller's attorney had a simple statement after he left court.

"Just remember Father Michael was an extremely dedicated priest at St. Paul parish and gave his heart to his parishoners and anybody else he met, for that matter, throughout his whole career," St. John said.

When asked if he was pleased the court documents would remain sealed, St. John said, "It's fine, but that wasn't us that asked them to remain sealed. We didn't try to seal them."