CAMBRIDGE (MA)
South Coast Today
By THEO EMERY, Associated Press writer
CAMBRIDGE -- Paul Shanley's lawyer said yesterday that the defrocked priest's last remaining accuser remembered being molested only after he consulted with the Boston law firm that represented hundreds of alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
In related news, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel yesterday afternoon overturned an order from earlier in the week that had barred news organizations from identifying alleged victims in the case. Prosecutors contended in court this week that the remaining victim might refuse to testify if he is publicly identified.
The ruling is stayed until 1 p.m. Monday to allow prosecutors or others to appeal it. In the meantime, the media will continue to be banned from naming any alleged witnesses in the case.
Shanley lawyer Frank Mondano said court documents show one of his client's accusers contacted the law firm of Greenberg Traurig before he claims to have remembered bring molested by Shanley, a key figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal. The man says he recalled being abused by Shanley after the scandal broke in the Boston archdiocese in early 2002.
"I submit that the reason it looks like a textbook case (of recovered memory) is because it came right out of a textbook," Mondano said during a pretrial hearing. "People are trying real hard to obfuscate the fact that the cart came before the horse."