In re Grand Jury Investigation

After a house purchased by a Black family in an all-white neighborhood burned under suspected arson, four neighbors, a married couple, the wife's adult son, and the son's fiancée, sought counseling together from a Lutheran pastor within days of the fire; when the prosecution, suspecting the four had conspired in the arson and discussed it during counseling, subpoenaed the pastor before a grand jury, he invoked the clergy-communicant privilege, and the trial court declined to compel his testimony. The prosecution appealed, arguing the fiancée's presence as a nonfamily member during the group session defeated the privilege.