BOSTON (MA)
Daily News Tribune
By Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
BOSTON -- A judge, acting at the request of prosecutors, issued an order Tuesday barring the news media from disseminating the names of the alleged victims in the upcoming child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
Superior Court Judge Charles Spurlock issued his order after The Associated Press moved a story that included the names of two alleged victims, one of whom is expected to testify against Shanley at his trial on child rape charges later this month.
The name of the alleged victim has been published repeatedly by the AP and other news organization since 2002, when he filed a civil lawsuit against Shanley and gave numerous newspaper and television interviews.
Spurlock cited a state law dating back to the 1980s that says that court or police records containing the name of the victim in a criminal case involving rape or assault with intent to rape "shall be withheld from public inspection, except with the consent of a justice" of the court where the case is being prosecuted.
The law says it is unlawful to "publish, disseminate or otherwise disclose the name of any individual identified as an alleged victim" of rape or attempted rape.