Pedophile Priest to Be Freed from Jail
By Mike LaBella
One of his victims says it will be up to society to keep an eye on convicted pedophile and defrocked priest Ronald H. Paquin. Mike Emerton, 49, a Haverhill native now living in Newburyport, told The Eagle-Tribune that he was one of Paquin's victims and that he was hoping Paquin would be found sexually dangerous and continue to be held. At the time of the assaults, Emerton was an altar boy at St. John the Baptist in Haverhill. "There is no cure for pedophilia," Emerton said. "It was my hope that he would be found as a sexually dangerous person and be held indefinitely." The Essex District Attorney's Office on Friday withdrew its petition to hold defrocked Haverhill priest Ronald H. Paquin as a sexually dangerous person. Neither of the experts who examined him found him "sexually dangerous," therefore, the District Attorney's Office must, by law, withdraw its petition. "Our contention is that Mr. Paquin poses a danger to the community," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we have no further legal options available to hold Mr. Paquin." After pleading guilty in 2003 to raping and molesting an altar boy in Haverhill as many as 50 times from 1989 to 1992, Paquin was sentenced to 12 to 15 years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction in Walpole. Paquin was one of the first priests jailed in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. According to the DA's office, under Massachusetts law, the state may file a civil commitment petition to hold a person believed to be sexually dangerous upon completion of their prison term. A judge must find probable cause after which the person is evaluated by two independent "qualified examiners." If at least one of the qualified examiners finds the person sexually dangerous, the state can proceed to a trial at which it must prove that the defendant meets the criteria for sexually dangerousness beyond a reasonable doubt. A probable cause hearing was held over the course of two days in early August, at which Essex Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Kirshenbaum presented testimony from Dr. Gregg Belle, a forensic psychologist specializing in sex offenders. Judge James Lang found probable cause on Aug. 20. Paquin was then evaluated by two qualified examiners. "Neither of them found him sexually dangerous, therefore the Commonwealth must withdraw its petition and Paquin will be released," Blodgett's statement said. Paquin was represented by Attorney David Erickson. Paquin said during his trial that his sexual abuse of teenage boys spanned four decades, including while he served at St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill from 1981 to 1990, and at St. Monica’s Church in Methuen from 1974 to 1980. Despite Paquin's lengthy history of alleged abuse, only one sexual molestation case fell within the state's statute of limitations in 2003. At that time, state law allowed for prosecution 15 years after the victim's 16th birthday. During sentencing at Paquin's trial in 2003, prosecutor William Fallon fought for a 60-year sentence for Paquin, though he said Paquin's "web of abuse" deserved life. Emerton says it's impossible to generalize about all victims of pedophile priests as each case is different. "With regards to me, it resurfaced in 2002 when the priest abuse scandal broke in the press," he said. "Prior to that I thought I was the only one and then I found out there were tens of thousands of victims worldwide. I learned there was a systemic pattern of cover up and since my career was in public relations I thought to utilize my skills to bring this abuse to life and stop it from happening again." Emerton became a spokesperson for The Voice of the Faithful, a group that formed in Boston of devout Catholics that came together with the intention of working with the church in dealing with the crisis. "We were one of the groups who put pressure on the church to release documents pertaining to these pedophile priests... who they were and where they were. Up until that time we had an institution that was ignoring the problem and protecting pedophile priests." Emerton said he's been following Paquin's case by way of media stories and conversations with the DA's office. "I did offer my assistance and wanted to be alerted to any news," he said. "On Friday, the DA's office called me as a courtesy to let me know that Paquin didn't meet the criteria to be held and that a press release would be issued that day." "It's shocking and puts the responsibility on society to be vigilant and monitor Paquin," Emerton said. "Recently we've seen a lot of pageantry regarding Pope Francis' visit to America, but we are seeing limited practice with regards to holding bishops accountable for protecting pedophile priests and releasing all files on them," Emerton said. Contact: mlabella@eagletribune.com
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