WORCESTER (MA)
The Standard-Times
By ADAM GORLICK, Associated Press writer
WORCESTER -- The convicted murderer accused in the jailhouse killing of John Geoghan said yesterday that he was beaten by prison guards after he was pulled from the former priest's cell.
Joseph Druce, who is already serving a life sentence for another murder, is asking a judge to dismiss the charges that he killed Geoghan, a convicted pedophile, in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
He testified during a hearing in Worcester Superior Court that he has been abused and harassed by officials at the maximum-security prison in Shirley and barred from meeting privately with his lawyers there and at MCI-Cedar Junction, the prison where Druce was transferred in October 2003.
Druce said guards handcuffed and shackled him after he was taken from Geoghan's cell following the Aug. 23, 2003, killing. "They walked me out and around the corner," he said, "and that's when my head was pummeled."
He said the beating resulted in a cracked or broken rib.