BishopAccountability.org
	Worcester DA Candidate Early Represents Worcester Priest Who Is on Leave for Sexual Misconduct with Minors Will Protection Be Extended to Those Who Sexually Abuse Children? Worcester Voice April 4, 2006 http://worcestervoice.com/Current%20news.htm Joseph Early Jr. will appear this morning in Dudley District Court to defend Father Joseph A. Coonan [Rev. Coonan charged with domestic assaults, Priest arrested on assault charges] on charges that he brutalized his 77-year-old mother and attacked his sister when she sought help of police. Mr. Early also represented Father Coonan when he was removed from St. John's parish in Worcester after numerous allegations were made that he was sexually inappropriate with boys in Oxford some years ago. Father Coonan still has supporters in the parish who are conducting a fundraising event for Father Coonan, who thus far has refused to resign as pastor of the parish although he has been banned from the premises since 2002. Some in the parish, who will not be buying the raffle tickets, are questioning why Father Coonan's name still appears in the church bulletin every week. This money raising is in addition to the monthly pay check and medical coverage he is eligible to receive from the Worcester diocese, which under Canon Law is required to support him as long as he is a priest. Father Coonan is among those priests on leave that are costing the Catholics of Central Massachusetts more than $300,000 a year. According to Diane Williamson column today: Yesterday, lawyer Joseph D. Early Jr. said his client denies assaulting his family but doesn't deny that he was drinking. Mr. Early, who is running unopposed for Worcester County district attorney, said Father Coonan's mother and sister are seeking to have the charges dismissed This is not the first time that Attorney Early has defended Father Coonan who was accused of abusing at least 12 boys while in the Oxford area. Most of the victims were asked to urinate or masturbate while Coonan watched. Many have asked how Father Coonan was ordained in the first place. Are we once again seeing that in Worcester County that it is matter of who you are rather than your actions? DA Conte has been in office for 29 years yet all these sexual abuses that occurred in the Oxford area were not prosecuted. DA Conte has allowed Father Coonan as well as all other Worcester diocesan priests who are known to have committed sexual abuse amount young adults and children to avoid prosecution. Already we are seeing an attempt to control of the courts by Mr. Early, who no doubt has his client communicate with the mother and the sister in order to have the charges dropped. Yet as in domestic violence cases the inability to testify should not preclude the prosecution. Victims lawyer Daniel Shea, interviewed yesterday, reminds us that any defendant is entitled to the lawyer of his or her choice and that there is certainly nothing unethical about Attorney Early representing Rev. Coonan. Nevertheless, "I am reminded of a piece of advice my father gave me in 1989 when I was deciding whether to practice corporate law in Washington DC or to represent injured plaintiffs. I shall never forget what he told me, 'Always stay on the side of the angels, the little guy; you will be known by the company you keep.'" Mr. Shea's father was born in Worcester in 1909 and his grandfather in Worcester in 1887. All three are named Daniel. Daniel III likes to joke, "I'm the black sheep. I was born in Providence."
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