CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
The man accusing Paul Shanley of raping him as a child often was either sent out of Sunday school class or removed by the priest for misbehaving, four former classmates testified yesterday.
``I remember (the alleged victim) going out more than once,'' Brendan Moriarty said yesterday. Shanley ``pulled Gregory Ford (another student) and (the alleged victim) out on separate occasions.''
Prosecutors rested their case yesterday after Moriarty and three other former classmates contradicted two former teachers who testified last week that they didn't recall Shanley taking his accuser out of class in the 1980s, when the priest allegedly molested the boy in the bathroom, the rectory, the pews and the confessional.
One of the teachers had testified that class began at 8:50 a.m., ended an hour later and was followed by a 10 a.m. Mass, making it impossible, the defense suggested, for Shanley to do those things, particularly with other students and teachers around.
Yesterday, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel dismissed one of three rape charges against Shanley after his lawyer, Frank Mondano, argued there was no evidence his client forced the alleged victim to perform oral sex on him. Shanley, now 74, faces up to life in prison if he is convicted of the other charges, as well as two counts of indecent assault and battery.