BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Appeals Court yesterday rejected two Attleboro religious sect members' request to get out of jail while the court decides whether a Juvenile Court judge acted properly in locking them up.
David P. and Rebecca A. Corneau were jailed Feb. 5 after refusing to surrender their newborn to Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth P. Nasif or provide sufficient evidence they do not have a baby.
While Appeals Court Justice Janis M. Berry refused to let the Corneaus out of jail pending their appeal of Nasif's order, she did speed up the timetable for that appeal. Normally, such an appeal would take nine months to a year to decide. Berry placed the Corneaus' appeal on expedited status and scheduled a hearing before a full, three-judge Appeals Court panel for April 22.
On Jan. 15, Nasif ruled that Rebecca Corneau had had a baby in November or December, based in part on the testimony of neighbors who said that she had looked pregnant and had appeared to be in labor in late November as family members assisted her to a van.
At that time, the Corneaus did not offer testimony to the contrary. Only on Feb. 5, when the Corneaus faced going to jail or handing over the baby, they told Nasif that they do not have a baby, that Rebecca Corneau had suffered a miscarriage.
Nasif had initially ordered the Corneaus to be jailed Jan. 17, but enforcement of that order was postponed to allow the Corneaus time to appeal. They had argued that it would violate their constitutional privilege against being forced to implicate themselves in a crime if they were forced to surrender their baby to Nasif. Nasif had ruled that privilege does not apply in this case.
The Corneaus appealed, and asked Berry to let them remain free while a full panel heard the appeal. Berry found that the Corneaus do not have a good chance of winning their appeal and refused to block their jailing.
After a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court agreed with Berry, the Corneaus went back before Nasif on Feb. 5.
He ruled that their testimony about the miscarriage could not be believed without supporting evidence, such as disclosure of the burial site of the fetal remains, and ordered the Corneaus jailed until March 14.
The Corneaus then appealed to Berry again, saying their testimony about the miscarriage changed the case.
Berry said in her 10-page ruling yesterday that it was up to Nasif to determine whether to believe the Corneaus' testimony.
She also ruled that the Corneaus had waived their constitutional privilege against being forced to implicate themselves in a crime because they had voluntarily offered some testimony regarding the miscarriage. That means they cannot selectively refuse to testify about certain details, such as what happened to the fetal remains, Berry ruled.
Berry also found that a letter from Dist. Atty. Paul F. Walsh Jr. promising not to prosecute the Corneaus for illegally disposing of the fetal remains was legally enforceable. That means the Corneaus could not face prosecution, even if they implicated themselves in illegal disposal of a body, Berry ruled.