CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Prosecutors yesterday dropped charges involving a third alleged victim in the case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, leaving only one accuser as jury selection began in the trial of one of the clergy sex-abuse scandal's most notorious figures.
The third alleged victim, a 35-year-old man who has battled drug addiction and homelessness, vomited after an October hearing and never contacted prosecutors again, they said. Last July, they dropped charges involving two other men who were allegedly raped in the 1980s, when all four attended St. Jean's parish in Newton.
Yesterday, four jurors - three men and one woman - were selected to hear charges brought by the fourth man, a 27-year-old former military police officer who says he was repeatedly raped in the church rectory, confessional and restroom between the ages of 6 and 11, when he took religion class at St. Jean's.