CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Brian Ballou and J.M. Lawrence
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley became a convicted child rapist yesterday, bringing an end to a case that came to embody the church abuse crisis that shook the Boston archdiocese.
``This is a victory for the many, many people victimized by Paul Shanley,'' said attorney Carmen Durso, representing seven people who claim they were sexually abused by Shanley between 1963 and 1994.
At trial, Shanley's accuser testified he was groped and raped by Shanley in the early 1980s at St. Jean's Catholic Church in Newton. The victim, a member of the parish's CCD class when Shanley was assigned there, said Shanley carried out the assaults beginning when he was 6 in the bathroom, the rectory, the pews and the confessional.
The jury deliberated for 14 hours before finding Shanley guilty of two counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.