Ruling in Suicide Case Deals Bitter Blow to Grieving Family

Walter Nally sometimes whispers when talking about his late son, Kenneth, but it’s not a soft whisper. There is a determined, prideful tone, spiced with an Irish brogue.

“My boy was brilliant,” Nally said in an interview Friday. “He was an athlete, and he could run faster than I ever could run. And he was my boy.”

And then there are times when Nally’s voice is so filled with rage when talking about his son that it can be heard in the street outside his Tujunga home.

“The state Supreme Court gave my dead son a birthday gift,” Nally said scornfully. “It was not a good Thanksgiving for this family.”

Kenneth Nally, a former high school honors student who shot himself to death in 1979 while suffering from depression, would have been 34 years old Nov. 23. That was the day the state Supreme Court ruled that church pastors who had been giving spiritual counseling to the despondent Kenneth Nally could not be held responsible for his suicide.

Decisive Blow

The rejection of the charge by the Nally family of clergy malpractice was the latest and most decisive blow dealt to the family in their landmark legal battle against Kenneth Nally’s church, Grace Community Church of Sun Valley.

The Nallys had accused four pastoral counselors of the 10,000-member church of being negligent in failing to inform the family of the seriousness of Kenneth Nally’s depression or to refer him to licensed psychotherapists.

Now, despite the ruling, Walter Nally and his wife, Maria, vow that they will not give up “seeking justice.” The Nallys’ attorney, Ed Barker, said he was evaluating the court’s ruling during the weekend and would determine whether to file an appeal.

“We’re looking at our options and trying to see if the state Supreme Court closed the door on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Walter Nally said. “But whatever our options are, it’s not over.”

‘Sigh of Relief’

Grace Community Church officials could not be reached for comment. But their attorney, David R. Cooksey of Tustin said on the day of the ruling: “Church counselors can breathe a sigh of relief and can continue what they have been doing for centuries. If this ruling had gone the other way, it would have had a very chilling effect on both pastors and parishioners.”

The lawsuit has taken the Nallys on a roller coaster ride through the judicial system. The suit was dismissed twice in Los Angeles Superior Court but reinstated in the state Court of Appeal last year.

Walter Nally, 57, a former chief financial officer for a large corporation specializing in computers, said he has spent more than $100,000 on the suit. “I mean, I stopped counting after I spent $100,000,” he said. “I have no idea how much I’ve spent.”

But the emotional cost of the 9 1/2-year ordeal appeared to be of greater concern to the couple, who have been married 35 years and have one other son, 27-year-old Walter Nally Jr. As they discussed the case in their den, they often broke into tears.

Walter Nally nervously smoked several cigarettes as he recited minute details of various court proceedings. At times he looked around the den at numerous athletic and scholastic trophies won by his firstborn son.

He credited the family’s persistence in pursuing the case to “our religion, our heritage, our reason and our family.” The couple is Roman Catholic.

Maria Nally, 59, a Japanese immigrant, said she once had a dream in which she saw Kenneth standing in a white room, covered with blood. “I ask him what happened, and he says, ‘Mom, help me.’ ” she said. “That’s why I must find out what really happened.”

Emotional Problems

Kenneth Nally started attending Grace Community Church, the largest Protestant church in Los Angeles County, in 1974. When a broken romance and other emotional difficulties began to depress him, he sought counseling from church pastors and a professional psychologist. In 1979, when his depression increased, he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself by taking an overdose of an antidepressant drug prescribed by a physician.

After his treatment and recovery in a hospital, Kenneth Nally continued to see church counselors. One of them made an appointment for him to see a physician and another referred him to a psychologist, according to the state court opinion. He saw the psychologist and later discussed going into therapy at a clinic. But a few days later, after a family argument, he killed himself at a friend’s apartment.

The Nallys contended that the church had been negligent in the training and hiring of its pastoral counselors and that, after their son’s failed suicide attempt, the counselors had “actively and affirmatively discouraged him from seeking professional help.” They said the counselors had told Kenneth he would “be accepted into heaven” if he committed suicide.

The court ruled in a 5-2 vote that church counselors or others who are not licensed psychotherapists have no legal duty to refer a person to psychiatrists or other mental health professionals, even if they believe that person is suicidal.

When asked if part of his obsession with the suit was a way to assuage his own guilt, Walter Nally said: “Yes, I feel guilt . . . by God almighty, I will go on. That’s a father’s promise to his dying son.”