16 January 2015 A.D. (UPDATE—TEC Bishop Cook)
Hit-and-Run-Heather Released on Bail for DUI/Vehicular Homocide & Diocesan
Pastoral Letter
A deposed Episcopal priest has posted bail for Bishop Heather Cook who is
facing vehicular manslaughter, DUI, and other charges, in the death of
Thomas Palermo on December 27. Cook has been released from jail and is
scheduled to appear in District Court on February 6th for criminal
indictment.
Both the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore
Brew report that Cook was headed to an inpatient treatment
facility after her release.
Cook and Hansen attended General Theological
Seminary in New York at the same time in the 1980s, according to the school’s
website, and Hansen participated in Cook’s consecration ceremony last
September.
Hansen posted $35,000 of collateral and signed a
$215,000 promissory note to meet the 10% requirement of the $2.5 million bail
for Bishop Cook, who was jailed last Friday on manslaughter and drunk driving
charges stemming from a car crash that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo.
Reached this afternoon, Hansen said, “I’m not
talking to the press, OK? We have an attorney.”
Only one condition is required of Bishop Cook under
the terms of today’s bail: “Do not drive while pending trial.”
Arinze Ifekauche, spokesman for State’s Attorney
Marilyn Mosby, confirmed that Cook “is not on pretrial supervision.”
It is not known where Cook will go after her
release today. After the fatal crash with Palermo, Cook stayed at Father
Martin’s Ashley, an alcohol treatment center near Havre de Grace, before she
was jailed last Friday.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Cook had
entered a 28-day treatment program after the December crash that killed
bicyclist Thomas Palermo. In a hearing on January 12,
[Cook’s attorney, attorney, Jose A.] Molina asked Klein to lower
Cook’s [$2.5 million] bail to $500,000 and allow her to continue with
residential treatment or home monitoring. He promised she would not drive.
The $2.5 million bail, which Molina said Cook
could not pay, was upheld:
District Court Judge Nicole Pastore Klein rejected
a request from prosecutors to deny bail, but also disagreed with Cook’s
attorney that her bail should be lowered. Klein said the allegations against
Cook show a “reckless and careless indifference to life.”
“I can’t trust her judgment if released,” Klein
said.
Both the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Brew
reported Hansen’s presence at the initial court proceedings, and that the
Diocese of Maryland was not part of any bail arrangement. The Sun:
A spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
described Hansen as a friend of Cook’s. Spokeswoman Sharon Tillman said the
church was not involved in the bail payment but was “grateful that she’ll now
be able to resume treatment.”
Hansen signed a promissory note agreeing to pay
$215,000 in monthly installments of $1,000, records show. If Cook fails to
appear in court, Hansen could be on the hook for the full $2.5 million.
Hansen attended Cook’s bail review hearing Monday
but declined to talk to a reporter. He could not be reached for comment
Thursday.
In other developments, the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor
Sutton, Bishop of Maryland, wrote a pastoral letter to the Diocese dated
January 13 and reported in the Baltimore Brew.
Bishop Sutton asks the question, “What do we do
with our grief?” Bishop Sutton was presiding as bishop when Bishop Suffragan
Heather Cook was elected in the Diocese of Maryland, and was aware of her 2010
DUI arrest.
There are still too many questions for which there
are no easy answers, and we are filled with anger, bitterness, pain and tears.
Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Palermo family in their bereavement
and for ourselves as a diocese in mourning. And we continue to pray for our
sister Heather in this time of her tremendous grief and sorrow, knowing the
Episcopal Church’s “Title IV” disciplinary process is underway to
consider consequences for her actions as well as review the process that
resulted in her election.
Bishop Sutton lists five practices that are helping
him through his own feelings of grief and sense of responsibility: prayer,
being vulnerable rather than defensive, trust in the Spirit, be patient in the
recognition that we cannot “simply fix problems on our own,” and acceptance:
After discussing this tragedy with some of my
bishop colleagues for over an hour and being held up in prayer by them, one
said, “Eugene, I am the child of an alcoholic and I’ve spent many years dealing
with that and coming to understand the hold that alcohol has on someone who is
addicted to it. I want to tell you that the Diocese of Maryland is not
responsible for the terrible accident that killed that bicyclist. You are not
responsible for that; Heather Cook is. It’s not your fault.” I burst into
tears. I hadn’t realized how much I had internalized the weight of
responsibility for the tragedy, the sense of shame, and the desperate need to
make it all better. Later, praying before the Icon of Christ the Pantocrater, I
gazed into those piercing eyes of our Lord, asking: What is Christ wanting to
say to me? And what did I want to say to him? After what seemed like an
eternity, I was finally able to gaze into his eyes and say: “Lord, it’s not
your fault.” And both of us cried.
His letter is posted on the Episcopal Diocese of
Maryland’s website here.
Posted by Cara Modisett and Andrew Gerns
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