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Here's the latest from Reuters. Note that Druce's father said that his son had a 'grudge against homosexuals'.

Another reason to support the death penalty is that it prevents this kind of 'free killing' in prisons. Druce knows he'll just get another life sentence.

Prosecutors probe Geoghan's death

BOSTON (Aug. 24) - Prosecutors investigated on Sunday how a convicted murderer said to bear a grudge against homosexuals managed to strangle fellow inmate John Geoghan, a pedophile priest at the center of a church sex abuse scandal, inside one of Massachusetts' most secure prisons.

Geoghan was apparently killed by Joseph Druce, 37, Worcester County District Attorney John Conte said on Saturday, declining to say how he was choked to death. An autopsy is planned for Monday and murder charges will be filed.

The 68-year old defrocked priest, who was serving a sentence for groping a boy while they were swimming, was a central figure in the sex scandal that sent shockwaves through the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and abroad.

His prosecution helped uncover a string of pedophile cases that forced Cardinal Bernard Law to resign last year as leader of the Boston Archdiocese, home to more than two million Catholics and the emotional heart of the Church in the United States.

Geoghan's violent death shocked the city and more than 130 people who have filed lawsuits charging he abused them over a span of 40 years when he was being shuttled around several parishes in the Boston area.

''I had a moment of thinking 'He got what he deserved','' said Michael Linscott, 45, when heard the man who had molested him as an altar boy 37 years ago was murdered.

''As victims we will live in our own prison forever, but Geoghan got off easy. He is never going to hurt anyone again, but he still had a lot of penance to do on earth,'' Linscott said, biting his lip at a news conference.

CRIMINAL CASES CLOSED

Geoghan died at a time the Church is offering to pay $65 million to settle abuse cases. Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who represents more than 100 victims, said it was impossible to predict how the killing may affect these talks. But several criminal cases against Geoghan will now be closed, he said.

Officials refused to say how Druce, whose father said he held a grudge against homosexuals, managed to get near Geoghan in a special section of the Souza Baranowski prison 30 miles northwest of Boston where Geoghan was held in protective custody and had only limited contact with other prisoners.

''We can't release any details because the District Attorney's office is conducting an investigation,'' said Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. Druce, who is serving a life sentence for murdering an elderly man, is now in isolation at the facility.

Psychiatrists say child molesters are often at great risk in prison because their fellow inmates -- convicted rapists, murderers and robbers -- tend to classify them as the most heinous criminals of all.

The Boston Globe reported that Druce's father, Dana Smiledge, said ''I can't understand why they would put a guy who would kill a sex offender in a cell with a sex offender.'' Nantel would not say whether Druce and Geoghan knew each other or were locked in the same cell. Geoghan was only recently moved to this prison, one of most secure in the state.

On Sunday morning nearby parishes offered a mass for Geoghan, whose death was called ''tragic'' by the Archdiocese.

''I'm glad they offered a mass for him. I just hope they offer a mass for the victims too,'' said John King, 40, who was abused as an altar boy by another priest in the Boston area.

The Archdiocese's new bishop, Sean O'Malley, is winning praise for confronting the scandal. He did not discuss the Geoghan murder in detail at mass on Sunday, but offered prayers to the ex-priest's family.

O'Malley did however signal a tough line with pedophile priests this weekend when his spokesman said four priests who stand accused of molesting children were put on indefinite administrative leave.

Reut16:06 08-24-03

The attacker, whom authorities identified as Joseph L. Druce, jammed the electronically operated cell door to prevent guards from opening it.

How do you suppose that an ordinary, run-of-the-mill inmate goes about "jamming" an electronically operated cell door so that it can't be opened?

''As victims we will live in our own prison forever, but Geoghan got off easy. He is never going to hurt anyone again, but he still had a lot of penance to do on earth,'' Linscott said, biting his lip at a news conference......

He is doing penance in hell.

So what if he has a grudge against homosexuals? I would never condone violence against a person who has consensual sexual relations with another adult. That's not what we are talking about here, is it?