Posted on 02/07/2005 1:21:00 PM PST by Former Military Chick
EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Jurors weighing the fate of a Boston-area priest accused of raping a young parishioner went home Friday without a verdict after about seven hours of deliberations.
Five men and seven women began deliberations Thursday afternoon in the child sex-abuse trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, after the defense rested its one-witness case and lawyers delivered their closing arguments.
Shanley faces life in prison on two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery. A fifth count of child rape was dropped from the indictment Monday after Shanley's accuser was unable to testify about one of the alleged incidents.
The jury is set to return at 9 a.m. Monday morning, prompting observers to wonder about the effect a Super Bowl victory for the Patriots would have on the verdict.
I have not followed the case, either. I just wanted to make sure I understood your position. It is a reasonable view, whether or not it's accurate for this case.
Yes, former Fr. Geoghan (sp?) was murdered soon after he was sentenced.
We strive for perfection in our justice system and I am not naive enough to think that perfection is possible.
This case against Jackson has some similar elements to it. The potential for judicial error in these cases is high, where the witness is human.
It is no longer alleged.
You should have heard this guy's wife's testimony. He changed overnight.
Update on the verdict of the Priest, found guilty of child sex abuse.
From the AP:
Ex-Priest Shanley Convicted of Molestation
Monday, February 07, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Defrocked priest Paul Shanley (search), the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, was convicted Monday of raping and fondling a boy at his Roman Catholic church during the 1980s.
The conviction on all four charges gives prosecutors a high-profile victory in their effort to bring pedophile priests to justice for decades of abuse at parishes around the country.
Shanley, 74, could get life in prison for two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child when he is sentenced Feb. 15. His bail was revoked and he was immediately led off to jail.
The victim, now 27, put his head down and sobbed as the verdicts were announced after a trial that turned on the reliability of what he claimed were recovered memories of the long-ago abuse. Shanley showed no emotion as he stood next to his attorneys.
"There are no winners today. There are only losers," his niece, Teresa Shanley, said as her uncle was led from the courtroom. "We're no closer to finding out the truth about this scandal or finding out what happened."
During the trial, the accuser broke down on the stand as he testified in graphic detail that Shanley pulled him out of Sunday morning catechism classes and raped and groped him in the church bathroom, the rectory, the confessional and the pews starting when he was 6.
"It felt awful," he testified. "He told me nobody would ever believe me if I told anybody."
The accuser said he repressed his memories of the abuse but that they came flooding back three years ago, triggered by news coverage of the scandal that began in Boston (search) and soon engulfed the church worldwide.
Shanley, once a long-haired, jeans-wearing "street priest" who worked with Boston's troubled youth, sat stoically for most of the trial, listening to his accuser's testimony with the help of a hearing aid.
The defense called just one witness — a psychologist who said that so-called recovered memories can be false, even if the accuser ardently believes they are true. A lawyer for Shanley argued that the accuser was either mistaken or concocted the story with the help of personal injury lawyers to cash in on a multimillion-dollar settlement resulting from the sex scandal.
The accuser, now a firefighter in suburban Boston, was one of at least two dozen men who claimed they had been molested by Shanley. The archdiocese's own personnel records showed that church officials knew Shanley publicly advocated sex between men and boys, yet continued to transfer him from parish to parish.
Prosecutors said the accuser had no financial motivation in accusing Shanley of rape in the criminal case because he received his $500,000 settlement with the archdiocese nearly a year ago. They also cited his three days on stand, during which he sobbed and begged the judge not to force him to continue testifying.
"The emotions were raw. They were real," prosecutor Lynn Rooney said in closing arguments.
Victims' advocates said they were gratified by the verdict.
"This shows that when survivors find the strength to speak up, sometimes, sometimes, kids are protected, and justice can happen," said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abuse by Priests. "When survivors stay silent, nothing changes."
Shanley is one of the few priests prosecutors have been able to charge. Most of the priests accused of wrongdong avoided prosecution because the statute of liminations on their alleged crimes ran out long ago. But the clock stopped when Shanley moved out of Massachusetts.
He was arrested in California at the height of the scandal in May 2002, and brought back to Massachusetts in handcuffs — charged with raping four boys from his parish in Newton, outside Boston. All four claimed they repressed memories of the abuse, then recovered them when the scandal broke.
But the case ran into numerous problems. In July, prosecutors dropped two of the accusers in what they said was a move to strengthen their case. Then, on the day jury selection began, they dropped a third accuser because they were unable to find him after a traumatic experience on the witness stand at a hearing last fall.
The clergy abuse scandal in Boston began in early 2002 when Cardinal Bernard Law acknowledged he shuffled a pedophile priest from parish to parish despite evidence the priest had molested children. That priest, John Geoghan, was convicted of assault and was later killed in prison.
The scandal intensified later in 2002 when the church released Shanley's 800-page personnel file. Despite church teachings, he argued for acceptance of homosexuality and pushed for gay rights. He called himself a "sexual expert" and advertised his counseling services in the alternative press.
He resigned from parish work in 1989 and moved to California. At the time, Law, who resigned as archbishop in December 2002 at the height of the scandal, praised his "impressive record." Boston church officials recommended him for a job in the Diocese of San Bernardino as a priest in "good standing."
I would be a little surprised if Shanley did not meet the same fate as the other sicko, Geoghan. Prison justice will be carried out in a timely fashion.
I am also not well versed on child psychology. I understand he was six when repeated abuses occurred and it all came back to him when he was talking about the subject to another.
Having raised two boys and a girl, it just seems like repression of these memories entirely is difficult for me to grasp.(not saying it is impossible)
The prosecutors say they may bring the other cases forward. I wonder if they are concerned about appeals.
But from what I read about this bozo, his own writings have condemned him and I don't think they even admitted that evidence.
When they ship this Perverted Homosexual Cretin off to Prison there should be a Bishop under each arm.
My first two Choices are Card. Law and Bish. McCormack.
God Help all those people this creep destroyed.
The Catholic Church wii pay a severe price over the next 20 years or so. The Church may never get over this Abomination of their own doing.
The church really made a huge mistake by protecting this guy.
Similar types of protections are being extended to tenured teachers by the union.
I hope they take note of it.
The Church should reconsider its stance on celibacy. Such a requirement must increase the chance of getting 'bad apples'.
The Church should reconsider its stance on celibacy. Such a requirement must increase the chance of getting 'bad apples'.
Instead, how about not admitting homosexuals into the priesthood? That would be a good start. Celibacy in heterosexuals is another subject entirely.
Yes, the Bible does not teach celibacy for clergy. That is a law created by men. And unlike God's laws, which are holy, man's laws are flawed.
I am of the opinion that these perverts are attracted to that profession/service because there are many unsuspecting, innocent, and trusting individuals they can prey(no pun intended) on who couldn't imagine a man of the cloth being such a veil creature.
My guess is that when these predators study to become priests they are not open about their sexual activity, whether heterosexual or homosexual. Who's going to know?
I would suggest that once they have been ordained, and are discovered to be engaging in unlawful sexual acts, instead of relocating these criminals so that they can really spread themselves around, have them defrocked and reported to the local authorities immediately. They are not above the law.
That too.
As you can see from my posts, I have no doubt that he is guilty as charged, but I questioned the method with this delayed recall witness.
They have enough to hang this guy ten times over from the further reading I have done since I made that post.
Many in the public however who only heard what I did on the MSM may well question this as I did.
I would hope they did know the other background, because the alternative is that they would convict a guy "in the absence of a case". He's clearly guilty as hell, but the state didn't prove it in court beyond a reasonable doubt.
Must it be proved "beyond a reasonable doubt" WRT this type of case?
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