June 10th, 2024 - Judge Susan Watters has issued two more rounds of sanctions against the Watchtower Organization and Church after attorneys for abuse victims discovered that the Jehovah's Witnesses intentionally destroyed critical evidence and notes related to multiple child abusers and their victims.
The Jehovah's Witness Service Department in New York was found to have collected significant data describing the actions of abusers over many years, then produced "Memorandums," and subsequently ... moreJune 10th, 2024 - Judge Susan Watters has issued two more rounds of sanctions against the Watchtower Organization and Church after attorneys for abuse victims discovered that the Jehovah's Witnesses intentionally destroyed critical evidence and notes related to multiple child abusers and their victims.
The Jehovah's Witness Service Department in New York was found to have collected significant data describing the actions of abusers over many years, then produced "Memorandums," and subsequently deleted or destroyed the materials that were the basis for those Memorandums.
Judge Watters' ruling reflects proof that the Witnesses destroyed the evidence after being engaged in litigation in the two Montana lawsuits scheduled for trial this summer.
As a penalty for this misconduct by the Witnesses, the jury will be informed by the Court that critical evidence was destroyed after the Memorandums were created, and that the jury may infer that the information destroyed would have been unfavorable to Watchtower New York.
In a second Court Order issued the same day, Judge Watters also fined and penalized the Church due to pre-deposition misconduct related to two key officials for the JWs, Allen Shuster and Gary Breaux, both long-time members of the JW Service Department. The Court has ordered that all expenses related to this misconduct be tallied and submitted to the Court for review.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have been sanctioned or fined for misconduct at least 6 different times during the course of the Caekart and Rowland child abuse civil lawsuits filed in April of 2020.
