WORCESTER (MA)
Daily News Transcript
By Denise Lavoie
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
WORCESTER -- A jury was seated yesterday to hear the case of a prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan, the convicted pedophile priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal in Boston.
The final member of the jury of 10 men and six woman was selected yesterday afternoon in the trial of Joseph Druce, clearing the way for opening arguments this morning.
Druce allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in August 2003 after sneaking into his cell and jamming the door shut. Druce, who claims he was sexually abused as a child, later bragged to investigators that he did it to "save the children."
Druce, 40, is already serving a life sentence for murdering a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
He unsuccessfully used an insanity defense during that 1989 trial, and his attorney, John LaChance, has said he plans to argue again that Druce was not criminally responsible for his actions because of severe mental illness.