On 16 Feb 2005 13:57:45 -0800, rms1{at}my-deja.com wrote:

>Note: The author of this message requested that it not be archived.
>This message will be removed from Groups in 6 days (Feb 22, 3:54 pm).
>
>Yeah, it's the same troll.  Different nickname, different day, same
>crap, whether it's "wbt," "Punjab McKhune," or
"A. Krieghund.

Perhaps so, but that doesn't or didn't change the facts of the matter,
did it?

			      ***

Defrocked Priest Sentenced for Raping Boy

Top Stories - AP

By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston
Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to
15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly in the 1980s, sometimes
in a church confessional.	

"It is difficult to imagine a more egregious misuse of trust and
authority," Judge Stephen Neel said in imposing the term. But he
turned aside a prosecutor's request for a life sentence.

Shanley, 74, once known for a being a hip "street priest" who reached
out to troubled children and homosexuals, was convicted last week of
two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a
child.

He will eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence,
or 8 years. He was also sentenced to 10 years' probation.

The case hinged on the reliability of the accuser's memories of the
abuse, which he said he recovered three years ago as the clergy sex
abuse scandal unfolded in the media.

Prosecutor Lynn Rooney had recommended a life sentence, saying Shanley
used his position of authority to gain the trust of the boys he then
molested.

"He used his collar and he used his worshipped status in that
community," Rooney said. "There has been no remorse shown on the part
of this defendant. There has been no acceptance of responsibility."

Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, did not suggest a specific term, but
asked Neel to allow Shanley to serve his sentence in a county lockup
rather than state prison. The judge refused. Another notorious
pedophile priest, John Geoghan, was killed in a Massachusetts state
prison, allegedly by a fellow inmate.

Mondano said the prosecution's case was built on "vilification, half
truths and lies." He has said he plans to appeal.

Among the spectators who packed the courtroom for Shanley's sentencing
hearing were other people who accused Shanley of sexually abusing them
but were not part of the criminal case. As Shanley was led from the
courtroom in handcuffs, they burst into applause and one man called
out "Goodbye."

Shanley's accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter in a suburb of
Boston, said the former priest would pull him from Sunday morning
catechism classes at St. Jean's parish in Newton and rape and fondle
him. The abuse began in 1983, when he was 6 years old, and continued
for six years, he said.

Rooney read a written statement by Shanley's accuser.

"I want him to die in prison," the man's statement said. "I hope it is
slow and painful."

The accuser's wife addressed Shanley in court, saying "no words can
ever explain my disgust for you. You are a coward. You hid behind
God."

"You robbed my little boy of his innocence," the accuser's father told
Shanley. "You destroyed his understanding of good and bad and right
and wrong."

During the trial, the accuser broke down on the witness stand as he
described in graphic detail being abused by Shanley in a church
bathroom, rectory, confessional and pews.

"He told me nobody would ever believe me if I told anybody," he
testified.

	

Shanley became a focal point of the scandal after plaintiffs'
attorneys forced the church to release internal records about him.
Among the records were documents indicating that he was transferred
from parish to parish after allegations surfaced, and that he had
attended a forum with other people who later went on to form the North
American Man-Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA.

He was one of the few priests among hundreds implicated in the scandal
to face criminal charges. Most others escaped prosecution because the
statute of limitations ran out long ago. But in Shanley's case, the
clock stopped when he moved out of Massachusetts. He was arrested in
California in May 2002.

Some inmate advocates say whatever prison term Shanley gets could
amount to a death sentence.

Geoghan was beaten and strangled behind bars in 2003, a year after
being convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy. A fellow prisoner
later told investigators he killed Geoghan "to save the children."

Shanley is "so high-profile that that puts a big target on his back,"
said James Pingeon, a lawyer at Massachusetts Correctional Legal
Services, a group that provides civil legal services to inmates. "We
feel concerned. Obviously, he's a vulnerable person because of his
notoriety and his age."


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