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February 15, 2005

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley sentenced to 12 to 15 years for child rape

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced Monday to to 12 to 15 years in prison for repeatedly molesting a boy at a suburban parish in the 1980s.

Prosecutor Lynn Rooney had asked for a life sentence, saying he used his position of authority to gain the trust of his victim.

"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 make a specific sentencing recommendation but asked Judge Stephen Neel to allow Shanley to serve his sentence in a county house of correction rather than at a state prison. He also said the prosecution's case was built on "vilification, half truths and lies."

Shanley, 74, was convicted last week in Middlesex Superior Court of two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child. Mondano plans to appeal.

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

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

Rooney read a written statement by Shanley's accuser.

"I want him to die in prison," he said. "I hope it is slow and painful."

Posted by Nealus at February 15, 2005 05:27 PM

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