Boston Priest Murdered

[Walter Cronkite]

Former priest John Geoghan, a convicted child molester who became a central figure in the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal, died Saturday after another inmate attacked him in prison, a state corrections spokeswoman said.

Geoghan was injured in an incident with another inmate about noon and died shortly after being taken to Leominster Hospital, said Department Of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel.

The other inmate had been isolated and the incident was under investigation.

In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people have claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his three decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes. He was convicted last year of indecent assault and battery.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for many Geoghan victims, said he was ``surprised and shocked'' by Geoghan's death.

``Many of my clients would have rather seen Father Geoghan serve out his time in jail and endure the rigors of further criminal trials, so that his pedophile acts could have been exposed further,'' he said.

The church abuse scandal, which has had repercussions worldwide, broke in early 2002 with revelations that the Boston Archdiocese had shuttled Geoghan from parish to parish despite warnings about his behavior.

The scandal mushroomed after a judge ordered the release of archdiocese files involving dozens of priests, showing repeated examples of the archdiocese shipping priests to different parishes when allegations arose.

Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, offered prayers for Geoghan's family.

``Upon hearing the news of the tragic death of John Geoghan, the Archdiocese of Boston offers prayer for the repose of John's soul, and extends its prayers in consolation to his beloved sister, Kathy, at this time of personal loss,'' he said.

Geoghan was convicted in January 2002 for grabbing the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in 1991 in the first of three criminal cases against him. He was sentenced to nine to 10 years in prison.

In September 2002, the archdiocese settled with 86 Geoghan victims for $10 million, after pulling out of an earlier settlement of about $30 million.

One of those victims, Ralph DelVecchio, said Geoghan deserved prison but didn't deserve to be killed.

``I wouldn't say he deserved to die, you know?'' DelVecchio said. ``He was in jail - that's where I believed he should be.''

DelVecchio said he didn't wish ill on Geoghan.

``It's over with,'' he said.

[Walter Cronkite]

Probe

Prosecutors investigated on Sunday how a convicted murderer said to bear a grudge against homosexuals managed to strangle fellow inmate John Geoghan, a pedophile priest at the center of a church sex abuse scandal, inside one of Massachusetts' most secure prisons.

Geoghan was apparently killed by Joseph Druce, 37, Worcester County District Attorney John Conte said on Saturday, declining to say how he was choked to death. An autopsy is planned.

Geoghan, who was serving a sentence for child rape, was a central figure in the sex scandal that sent shockwaves through the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and abroad.

Geoghan was defrocked in 1998 and his prosecution helped uncover a string of pedophile cases that forced Cardinal Bernard Law to resign as Boston's archbishop late last year.

Some of Geoghan's victims, clearly shaken, broke down in tears and others said he did not deserve to be murdered in this way.

Geoghan was held in a special protective unit where he had only limited contact with other prisoners. Public officials on Sunday refused to say how Druce, whose father said he held a grudge against homosexuals, managed to get near the 68-year old former priest.

Conte's office said Druce, currently serving a life sentence, will face murder charges in Geoghan's death.

Geoghan, who had been accused of molesting more than 130 people while serving as a priest in various Boston area parishes, was attacked in Souza-Baranowski Correction Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, one of the state's most secure prisons. He later died in hospital, said Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

NOW IN ISOLATION

Nantel declined to say if Druce and Geoghan knew each other or what motivated Druce to attack Geoghan. "We can't release any details because the District Attorney's office is conducting an investigation," she said. Druce is still being held at the prison and is now in isolation, she said.

The Boston Globe reported that Druce, who changed his name from Darrin Smiledge a few years ago, had a long-standing grudge against homosexuals, in addition to a hatred of blacks and Jews.

"I can't understand why they would put a guy who would kill a sex offender in a cell with a sex offender," Druce's father, Dana Smiledge, told the newspaper. Prisons spokeswoman Kelly Nantel declined to say whether Druce and Geoghan were in the same cell.

The Globe reported that Smiledge hasn't spoken with his son, Joseph Druce, in eight years. Smiledge said Druce had threatened to kill his family and Smiledge's mother in the past. He is currently serving a sentence for murdering an elderly man in 1988.

Geoghan's death comes at a time the Boston Archdiocese is negotiating with his victims to settle hundreds of lawsuits. The Archdiocese, which called Geoghan's death "tragic," is offering to pay $65 million to the victims.

[Walter Cronkite]

Suspect In Ex-Priest's Death Plotted Murder

The inmate accused of strangling John Geoghan in his prison cell hated homosexuals and began plotting the attack on the child-molesting former priest weeks ago, a prosecutor said Monday.

''He looked upon Father Geoghan as a prize,'' District Attorney John J. Conte said. ''No question he had been planning it for well over a month.''

Joseph L. Druce, who is serving a life term for killing a gay man 15 years ago, cut apart a book to make a perfect tool for jamming the door of Geoghan's cell and spent time stretching the socks used in the strangling, Conte said.

Druce ''has a long-standing phobia, it appears, toward homosexuals of any kind. ... He is filled with long-standing hate,'' Conte said as he provided new details into the death of the central figure in the Roman Catholic Church sex scandal.

Conte did not address why two inmates with such criminal histories were living in the same cell block at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. Conte said part of the investigation would try to determine how many cells should be opened at any one time on the protective-custody block.

Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday appointed a panel headed by state police Maj. Mark Delaney to conduct an independent investigation. Surveillance cameras filming the protective custody unit while the attack took place also are being reviewed.

''Right now we are going to do a thorough review and re-evaluate all of our policies and procedures,'' state Public Safety Secretary Ed Flynn said. ''We cannot escape the fact that an inmate died while in the care of the Department of Correction.''

Druce and Geoghan had just finished lunch in their cells and were let out to return their trays when Druce followed Geoghan into his cell about 11:52 a.m. Saturday, before the doors were locked again.

In the upper track of the cell door, Druce jammed a book he had doctored to fit the slot, then put nail clippers and a tooth brush in the door's lower track to prevent guards from opening the door. He had precut the book to fit into the track, Conte said.

He tied Geoghan's hands behind his back with a T-shirt, then used the stretched-out socks, a pillow case and one of Geoghan's shoes to strangle him, Conte said. Druce did not use a razor he had with him, but may have intended to castrate the former priest, Conte said.

Once he was alerted to the attack by an inmate, the guard on duty tried to get inside, but found the door was jammed. He called for help. By the time a nurse arrived to treat Geoghan, seven or eight minutes had passed, Conte said.

Geoghan, 68, was taken to Leominster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:17 p.m. An autopsy Monday showed that Geoghan died from strangulation and blunt chest trauma. He also had broken ribs and a punctured lung, Conte said.

Conte has said Druce will be charged with murder once a grand jury is convened in September. Druce, who remains in isolation in the prison, has been cooperative with investigators, Conte said.

Geoghan allegedly molested nearly 150 boys over three decades and became a symbol of the clergy sex abuse scandal that shook the foundations of the Catholic church. He was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy. He had been in protective custody since being transferred to Souza-Baranowski in April, officials said.

Geoghan eventually was granted early retirement in 1996 and praised for an ''effective life of ministry, sadly impaired by illness'' by Cardinal Bernard Law, who ultimately resigned in December 2002 for his role in the scandal.

With legal troubles mounting, Geoghan was defrocked in 1998, and in December 1999 charged with raping and molesting three boys. The archdiocese eventually settled with 86 Geoghan victims for $10 million.

Druce, 37, a reputed member of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nation, was convicted in the June 1988 murder of George Rollo, 51, a gay bus driver who had picked Druce up hitchhiking. Druce, who then went by his birth name, Darrin E. Smiledge, attacked Rollo, stuffed him in the trunk of Rollo's car, drove him to a wooded area and strangled him, according to court documents.

Smiledge attacked the bus driver when Rollo made a sexual advance, the documents say. An insanity defense failed and Smiledge was sentenced to life in prison.

Smiledge also pleaded guilty to sending fake anthrax from prison to lawyers with Jewish-sounding names and was sentenced to an additional 37 months in prison.