WORCESTER (MA)
San Francisco Chronicle
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
(01-11) 09:27 PST Worcester, Mass. (AP) --
A prison inmate strangled pedophile former priest John Geoghan to "save the children," both sides in his trial agreed in opening statements Wednesday, but they differed over whether he should be convicted of murder for it.
Prosecutors said Joseph Druce had planned the 2003 killing in Geoghan's cell for weeks. Druce's lawyer said he was suffering from a mental illness and driven by an "irresistible impulse" to kill the defrocked priest.
"This case isn't so much about what happened," defense lawyer John LaChance said. "It's about why it happened."
LaChance doesn't dispute the allegation that his client strangled Geoghan after sneaking into his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and jamming the automatic door with a book.