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It could be wedding bells for one of the state’s most notorious murderers, as a South Carolina woman is planning to say “I do” to pedophile priest killer Joe Druce - if prison officials approve the lockup lovers’ big house bonds of matrimony. Shirl Borden, a Christian minister and Air Force veteran who has helped Druce in his many legal wranglings, said the man convicted of killing priest-turned-perv John Geoghan proposed and she’s decided to take the plunge. “I took years to think about it and I’ve decided to say ‘Yes,’ ” Borden told the Herald. “I fell in love...

      Every once in a while a combination of stories comes along in politics that is so bizarre you can’t believe you’re actually writing about it. This is one of those times.  Fresh after taking a run at Fenway Park fans in a public interview yesterday, Martha Coakley decided today that she’d insult another institution nobody in Massachusetts gives a crap about: Nuns. Here she is discussing why Nuns shouldn’t be allowed to work in Catholic Hospitals - private institutions that have zero problem with accomodating the consciences of the nuns: Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a...

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - A jury rejected an insanity defense and found prison inmate Joseph Druce guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder in the strangulation of pedophile priest John Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal. Druce admitted sneaking into Geoghan's prison cell in August 2003. He jammed the door shut with a book, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old before guards could stop him. The defense had argued that Druce was mentally ill and under the delusion that God had chosen him to kill Geoghan and send a message to pedophiles around the world. Prosecutor Lawrence Murphy...

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The inmate who strangled child-molesting priest John Geoghan behind bars testified Monday that he resolved to kill the clergyman after Geoghan arrogantly brushed off criticism that he had "destroyed all kinds of lives." Joseph Druce took the stand for a second day at his trial for killing Geoghan, who was serving time for groping a 10-year-old boy and had been accused of molesting 150 other children. Druce, 40, said that in the weeks before the slaying, he twice confronted Geoghan about molesting children. Instead of denying the accusations, Geoghan was "arrogant" and said he was worth...

Worcester, Mass. -- Moments after guards first pried open the jammed door of John Geoghan's prison cell, Joseph Druce confessed that he killed the child-molesting former priest to protect other youngsters, a guard testified Wednesday as the prisoner's murder trial began. Four guards brought Druce to the prison hospital unit, where he sobbed while confessing to killing Geoghan, guard Travis Canty said. According to prosecutors, Druce had jammed the door of Geoghan's cell shut with a book, then strangled the defrocked priest with a pillowcase, socks and a sneaker. "He said that he did it for the children," Canty said,...

BOSTON -- As defrocked priest Paul Shanley faces sentencing on child rape charges, inmate advocates are worried that sending him to prison could amount to a death sentence for a man who was at the very center of the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal. After all, another key figure in the scandal, former priest John Geoghan, was beaten and strangled behind bars in 2003, a year after he was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy. A fellow inmate told investigators he killed Geoghan "to save the children." Some are worried that the 74-year-old Shanley could be the next mark for an...

One of the most outspoken Boston clergy sex abuse victims, who said he had been molested by defrocked priest John Geoghan, was found dead early Monday, his lawyer said. The cause of death for Patrick McSorley, 29, was not immediately announced. He nearly drowned in a river last year but denied he had attempted suicide. His attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said he received a call from police early Monday morning informing him that McSorley had died. Garabedian would not comment on the cause of death, saying not all members of McSorley's family had yet been notified. McSorley often appeared at news...

Jackson to turn himself in tommorrow (20 NOV 03) according to family. This is despite the recent reports from other news agencies that he assured Sherrifs' office that he would surrender immediately upon landing in Santa Barbara after returning from Las Vegas.

Live news cast....breaking..more follows

BOSTON (AP) - A court vacated the child molestation conviction of defrocked priest John Geoghan because he died in prison during his pending appeal, a ruling that angered accusers of the former cleric. The decision Friday by the Massachusetts Appeals Court is customary under state law when convicts die mid-appeal and attorneys seek to have their convictions voided. Mitchell Garabedian, who represents many of Geoghan's alleged victims, called for the law to be changed. "It's as though the reporting of father John J. Geoghan's sexual abuse, his trial, and the jury decision never existed," Garabedian said. Geoghan's case triggered the...

Inmate allegedly claims in letter he killed Geoghan for the children BOSTON -- A letter purporting to be from Joseph Druce, the convict accused of killing former priest John Geoghan in prison, claims Druce was sexually abused as a child and calls for tougher measures against those who prey on children. The letter calls child sex abuse a "plague on our children." "This was'nt [sic] a crime to commite [sic] a crime, but to let the world no [sic] that all child predators must be dealt with with a more stryngent [sic] hand," the letter said. The handwritten letter also...

Settlement Reached In Boston Clergy Abuse Cases Archdiocese Agrees To Pay $85 Million POSTED: 10:03 a.m. EDT September 9, 2003 UPDATED: 5:14 p.m. EDT September 9, 2003 BOSTON -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed Tuesday to pay $85 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits from people who claim priests abused them, a lead attorney in the cases told The Associated Press. It's the largest known payout by a U.S. diocese to settle molestation charges. The deal, finalized after months of negotiations, marks a major step toward quieting the crisis that has torn at the fabric of...

I first read a few headlines and articles that yelled defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan had been murdered in prison by another inmate. Details of who did it, in these first articles, were absent. Then, they started to appear. Neo-nazi. A murderer. A homophobic. A sketch of a man formed in my head, not the prettiest one. A man filled with hate for no reason. NY Daily News: "Perv priest's body was pummeled." MSNBC: "Prison inmate had ‘phobia’ toward homosexuals. " A quote appeared again and again, all over the media, saying, "he has a longstanding phobia, it appears, towards...

<p>August 31, 2003 -- The madman who strangled pedophile priest John Geoghan last week has continued his manic rage by abusing prison staff and demanding he be treated as a hero, The Post has learned.</p> <p>An additional disciplinary report has been filed against crazed Joseph Druce after an incident with a prison nurse. The 37-year-old lifer launched into a tirade of foul language and insisted he be given special attention because "I just saved your kids from being raped," prison sources said.</p>

When I heard that defrocked priest John Geoghan had been murdered in prison, the Goya painting at Penn State came to mind. I also thought of how we deal so differently in the various quarters of this society with what's called a "hostile environment." At Penn State, a female professor charged that the mere presence on a classroom wall of a copy of Francisco Goya's painting "Naked Maja" constituted sexual harassment, i.e., an actionable level of discrimination and hostility. "What I am saying," she explained, "is that it's a nude picture of a woman which encourages males to make remarks...

<p>BOSTON &#8212; The inmate accused of killing defrocked priest John Geoghan told his defense attorney yesterday that he wanted to avenge the more than 100 children who said Geoghan molested them, the lawyer's spokeswoman said.</p> <p>Defense attorney John LaChance also is expected to explore an insanity defense for Joseph Druce, a convicted killer who is accused of strangling and stomping Geoghan to death in his Massachusetts prison cell Saturday, a spokeswoman for Mr. LaChance told Reuters news agency.</p>

No Sympathy for the DevilBy Tammy BruceFrontPageMagazine.com | August 27, 2003 When pedophile ex-priest John Geoghan was murdered in prison, a friend of mine called and said, “Isn’t it awful?” I was shocked at the question. Awful? No, it wasn’t awful. I didn’t feel sorry at all. I thought it was appropriate and was actually pleased. My friend wasn’t the only one experiencing a moment of moral stupefaction. The Boston archdiocese (not exactly the bulwark of ever having done the right thing) was “saddened” for Geoghan and his family. CNN’s Paula Zahn reported on the murder with the kind of...

(CNSNews.com) - The murder of a former priest in a Massachusetts prison at the hands of a convicted murderer who was apparently motivated by hatred of homosexuals could qualify as a hate crime, groups that monitor hate crimes legislation said. Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute and an opponent of hate crimes legislation, said the circumstances surrounding the murder of former priest and convicted child molester John Geoghan at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center outside Boston on Saturday speaks to the double standard in which hate crimes are applied to some cases and not others. "My guess would...

BOSTON -- On Wednesday, alleged clergy abuse victims expressed shock that Geoghan's criminal record will be erased because his case was under appeal when he died. Newscenter 5's Jack Harper reported that Geoghan's alleged victims are shocked by the development. "How dare the power of government try to sweep clean such a dirty slate, such a dirty slate of a child molester," said Marietta Dussourd. Dussourd said Geoghan molested three of her sons and she is enraged by a state law which erases his conviction for molesting a 10-year-old boy. The conviction could be voided because Geoghan was killed while...

(CNSNews.com) - The leaders of two support groups for victims of clergy sex abuse don't think last weekend's murder of former Catholic priest John Geoghan will have any major impact on other priests serving prison time or facing accusations for wrongdoing. The death of Geoghan, who was strangled Saturday by convicted killer Joseph Druce, leaves many unanswered questions about his life as a priest and the nearly 150 people he was accused of abusing, said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. "The only real impact this will have is keeping more of the...