January 19, 2006

Druce's lawyer calls in sick again -
X-ray procedure irks prison slaying suspect

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - The trial of the man accused of murdering pedophile ex-priest John J. Geoghan was put on hold for a second day yesterday because the defense lawyer remained ill.

John H. LaChance, the Framingham lawyer appointed to represent Joseph L. Druce, missed court Tuesday because of illness and called in sick again yesterday.

Judge Francis R. Fecteau told the jury in the Worcester Superior Court case that Mr. LaChance's health was somewhat improved yesterday and that he was optimistic he would be able to return to court today.

Mr. Druce, already serving a life sentence for murder, is on trial on a charge of murder in the Aug. 23, 2003, slaying of the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan in the defrocked priest's cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.

Mr. Druce, 40, stands accused of beating and strangling Mr. Geoghan after sneaking into his cell unnoticed during a lunch break in a protective custody unit at the maximum-security prison.

Mr. LaChance has raised an insanity defense on his client's behalf, maintaining Mr. Druce was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the killing and lacked criminal responsibility for his actions.

Mr. Geoghan, who was at the heart of the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal, was serving a prison sentence for molesting a 10-year-old boy when he was killed.

Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.

A state police detective and a correction officer testified that Mr. Druce confessed to the slaying and told them he killed Mr. Geoghan to prevent him from molesting children upon his release from custody.

Testimony began a week ago yesterday. The trial is expected to last about another week.

After the jury was excused for the day yesterday, Mr. Druce complained to Judge Fecteau that his legal paperwork, which he carries into the courtroom each day in two pillowcases, was being taken from him by correction officers at Walpole State Prison to be run through a fluoroscope, a type of X-ray machine. Mr. Druce said he objected to prison staff having access to the materials outside of his presence.

The judge said he would issue an order allowing Mr. Druce to be present when the materials are scanned. 

January 18, 2006

Lawyer ill, priest slaying trial stalls -
Suspect Druce addresses court

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - The trial of Joseph L. Druce, the inmate charged with murder in the 2003 prison slaying of pedophile priest John J. Geoghan, was suspended yesterday because Mr. Druce's lawyer was sick.

Judge Francis R. Fecteau told the jury in the Worcester Superior Court case that Mr. Druce's appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance of Framingham, was too ill to attend court yesterday, but that he was optimistic the trial would be able to resume today.

Judge Fecteau said the trial, which was expected to last about two weeks once a jury was chosen, remained on schedule. Testimony began a week ago today.

While the nature of Mr. LaChance's illness was not made clear, the judge said it was anticipated that it would be short-lived. A juror also called in sick yesterday, reporting that she was suffering flu-like symptoms, according to Judge Fecteau. The 16-member jury includes four alternate jurors. The alternates will be randomly chosen at the conclusion of the case. A total of 12 jurors will deliberate.

If Mr. LaChance had been present yesterday, the missing juror could have been excused from service and the trial could have continued.

Mr. Druce, 40, has raised an insanity defense to the charge of murdering the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan on Aug. 23, 2003, in the ex-priest's prison cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line. Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy when he was killed. Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.

According to testimony from prison officials and state police, Mr. Druce admitted strangling and beating Mr. Geoghan after slipping into his cell unnoticed, allegedly saying he killed the former priest to prevent him from molesting other children after his release from custody.

After being brought into the courtroom yesterday so the judge could excuse the jury for the day, Mr. Druce turned to a television camera and blurted, "Pedophiles, beware; Joe Druce says leave the kids alone."

Mr. Druce also charged that prosecutors had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence in connection with a motion to dismiss his case. After the jury had left the courtroom, Mr. Druce sought to address the court about a motion he had personally filed relating to a witness who he claimed perjured herself during a hearing on the motion to dismiss.

Judge Fecteau declined to discuss the matter in Mr. LaChance's absence.

January 15, 2005

A ‘savior’ beyond sanity?

Law, lunacy take stand with Druce

Joseph L. Druce seems infinitely at home in Room 203 of Worcester Superior Court. The rail-thin defendant waves graciously to spectators and nods briskly in agreement at various witnesses who please him. He whispers urgently to his lawyer and addresses the judge at sidebar conferences. Each day, as he’s escorted in and out of the courtroom, he tosses nonsensical verbal nuggets at the media that target everyone from Gov. Mitt Romney to Pope Benedict XVI.

Is this the behavior of an egomaniac or a madman?

On Aug. 23, 2002, inmate Druce snuck into the cell of pedophile priest John J. Geoghan and strangled the life from the 68-year-old man with a pair of socks and a sneaker.

Is this the work of a cold-blooded killer or delusional lunatic?

Last week, various witnesses said Mr. Druce claimed that he killed the defrocked priest to protect children from further sexual abuse.

Will a jury render him moral or mad? If you kill a pedophile and don’t think it’s wrong, is that a sign of mental illness or something else?

The answers aren’t as obvious as one might think — or hope. During jury selection for Mr. Druce’s murder trial, one prospective juror was dismissed after admitting that he had no sympathy for Mr. Geoghan. Still another was released after telling the judge that Mr. Geoghan’s alleged crimes were so awful that he “probably didn’t deserve to live.”

In the courtroom Friday afternoon, Mr. Druce turned to address a spectator who has been seated quietly in the front row since the start of the trial.

“Did you get my letter?” Mr. Druce asked, before being shushed by a court officer.

The spectator is Richard Chesnis of Worcester. Earlier this year, he filed a civil suit in Worcester Superior Court in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of his son during the 1980s by a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. John J. Szantyr, who also faces criminal charges.

On Friday, Mr. Chesnis told me that he’s written three “empathetic” letters to Mr.

Druce since he was charged with the brutal slaying of the frail former priest.

“I don’t agree with the act of murder, but I agree with why he did it,” Mr. Chesnis said. “The state should have done what Mr. Druce did.”

Clearly, Mr. Druce believes he’s a hero. The self-described pedophile slayer and protector of children boasted repeatedly of the killing and believed it would make him famous, according to various witnesses. He claimed he committed the crime after overhearing a telephone conversation in which Mr. Geoghan, who was serving a 9- to 10-year sentence for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy, said he planned to go to South America to work with children after his release. Mr. Geoghan was a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in Boston, and was alleged to have abused many boys.

So one day Joseph Druce sneaked into his cell, fashioned a rough noose around the priest’s neck and ignored the man’s pleas for mercy.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Mr. Geoghan pleaded with his attacker.

“Your days are over,” Mr. Druce said he replied. “No more children for you, pal.” And with that, inside the protective custody unit of one of the most secure prisons in Massachusetts, Mr. Druce administered the crudest form of vigilante justice, in an institution that botched its basic duty to keep its prisoners safe.

His lawyer is raising an insanity defense, and it will be up to a jury to decide if Mr. Druce suffered from a mental disease or defect that caused him to lack the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or that left him unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. I don’t envy the jurors, likely laypersons all, who must somehow crawl inside the head of Joseph Druce at the time he committed the crime. He planned it for weeks — does that mean he’s sane? He thinks he’s a savior — does that mean he’s nuts?

His statements to police offer evidence for both sides.

“He wouldn’t have let it happen if it wasn’t meant to be,” Mr. Druce told an investigator, referring to God.

Yet, he also told investigators that “I’m not sure it was justified” but that he knew he’d be held accountable for the crime.

Joyce Charon, a nurse’s assistant at the prison, said Mr. Druce “got a lot of fan mail” after the murder and was so boastful of the crime that staff would repeatedly tell him

to shut up.

“I think he felt like it was his responsibility” to kill the defrocked priest, Ms. Charon said.

Mr. Druce is already serving a life sentence for the murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a pass at him after picking him up hitchhiking. An insanity defense failed to work in that trial. Testimony in court last week indicated that he also wanted to kill two prison inmates he believed to be gay.

During a break in Friday’s proceedings, Mr. Druce’s lawyer, John H. LaChance, said his client belongs in a mental health facility.

“The way we handle these types of people and the way we treat mental illness is a measure of our society,” he said.

He’s right. And the way we respond to the ruthless killing of a frail old man in a state-run institution — a man who, regardless of his crimes, was never sentenced to die — tells us whether we’re a nation of laws or a nation of lunatics. It’s one thing to express no sympathy for a pedophile, but quite another to applaud his executioner.

Joseph Druce may be mentally ill or he may be a calculated killer. Either way, he’s as far removed from a hero as it gets. That, perhaps, is the only obvious fact to emerge from this convoluted trial. 

Contact Dianne Williamson by e-mail at dwilliamson@telegram.com 

January 12, 2006

Druce Jurors Watch Correctional Center Video

Inmate Charged With Murdering Defrocked Priest

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A surveillance videotape from inside the correctional center where an inmate allegedly killed defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan, a fellow inmate, was shown to jurors Thursday.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Joseph Druce is accused of strangling Geoghan in the pedophile priest's cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in August 2003.

The facility had more than 350 surveillance cameras on the day Geoghan died, and some of the cameras captured how officers reacted after Druce allegedly gained access to Geoghan's cell and jammed the cell door.

The video shows a quiet guard station filled with corrections officers in the protective custody unit. Within a few minutes, emergency response teams are seen crowding around Geoghan's cell door On the video, officers could be seen restraining Druce and escorting him up several flights of stairs to the prison's hospital unit, where,

officers testified, Druce confessed to the murder.

Massachusetts Department of Corrections Lt. Edward Hammond took Druce's statement.

Druce unsuccessfully tried to use an insanity defense during a 1989 murder trial

Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, was accused of molesting 150 boys, but at the time of his death he was serving a 10-year sentence for assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy

"Inmate Druce began making spontaneous statements. (He said), 'I killed that child molester. He will never harm kids again. He will never hurt kids again,'" Hammond said. "Inmate Druce stated that he removed a pair of socks, which he had previously stretched and tied together in his cell, from around his waist. Inmate Druce stated that he brought these socks with him into the room to strangle Geoghan. It should be noted that he appeared to be pleased with himself."

Druce's defense attorney claimed that his client was mentally ill at the time of the murder, but Hammond said that Druce was calm and articulate when he was questioned. As Geoghan left the courtroom Thursday, he addressed reporters.

"Have the Pope hold all the bishops and all the archdioceses accountable for the actions of pedophile priests," Druce said

January 11, 2006

Corrections Officers Testify In Druce Trial

Inmate Accused Of Murdering Defrocked Priest

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A number of corrections officers testified Wednesday in the trial of an inmate charged with killing defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan in a Shirley, Mass., correctional facility.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Joseph Druce is accused of strangling Geoghan in the pedophile priest's cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in August 2003.

Prosecutors said that Druce gained access to Geoghan's cell, jammed the cell door with a book and killed Geoghan. Several corrections officers described what Druce allegedly said after Geogham was killed.

"(Druce) kept repeating comments like, 'It's not against you guys. It's all over now,'" correction officer Lt. Brian Miller said

Officers said that they found Druce pacing in Geoghan's cell with the defrocked priest dead on the cell floor.

"(Geoghan's) head was swollen. It was a purplish color," corrections officer Michael Kazprzak said.

Officers testified that Druce confessed to the murder when he was taken into custody.

"(Druce said) that he did it for the children and that when Geoghan got out he was going to do it again," corrections officer Travis Canty said.

Earlier in the day, prosecutor Lawrence Murphy described how Druce allegedly strangled Geoghan.

"He tied socks around John Geoghan's neck, still talking to him fairly nicely. (He) started to put some pressure on, took a sneaker off the floor, wrapped it into the socks and twisted (it)," Murphy said.

Druce's defense attorney claimed that his client was mentally ill at the time of the murder in his opening statement.

"The evidence in this case will show that on August 23, 2003, Joseph Druce was suffering from a mental illness," defense attorney John LaChance said.

LaChance said that his client lived a fantasy life and wanted to rid the world of the likes of Geoghan.

"He began to see himself as essentially the savior of the kids," LaChance said.

Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, was accused of molesting 150 boys, but at the time of his death he was serving a 10-year sentence for assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy.

Druce unsuccessfully tried to use an insanity defense during a 1989 murder trial.

January 11, 2006

Attorney Says Accused Geoghan Killer 'Did It For The Kids'

Defrocked Priest Murdered In Prison

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Opening statements were delivered Wednesday in the trial of an inmate charged with killing defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan in a Shirley, Mass., correctional facility.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Joseph Druce is accused of strangling Geoghan in the pedophile priest's cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in August 2003.

Prosecutors said that Druce gained access to Geoghan's cell, jammed the cell door with a book and killed Geoghan.

"He tied socks around John Geoghan's neck, still talking to him fairly nicely. (He) started to put some pressure on, took a sneaker off the floor, wrapped it into the socks and twisted (it)," prosecutor Lawrence Murphy said Murphy said that Druce confessed to the murder when he was taken into custody.

"He was basically saying, 'I killed him because he was a pedophile priest. I don't want him getting anyone else. I heard him on the telephone saying that he was going to go to Costa Rica and work with kids," Murphy said.

The defense claimed that Druce was mentally ill at the time of the murder.

"The evidence in this case will show that on August 23, 2003, Joseph Druce was suffering from a mental illness," defense attorney John LaChance said.

LaChance said that his client lived a fantasy life and wanted to rid the world of the likes of Geoghan.

"He began to see himself as essentially the savior of the kids," LaChance said.

Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, was accused of molesting 150 boys, but at the time of his death he was serving a 10-year sentence for assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy.

Druce unsuccessfully tried to use an insanity defense during a 1989 murder trial. 

January 10, 2005

9 jurors picked in Druce trial on priest’s killing

Insanity defense raised by lawyer 

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER— Jury selection was scheduled to resume today for the trial of Joseph L. Druce, the inmate charged with murder in the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.

Mr. Druce, who allegedly beat and strangled the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan in the ex-priest’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on Aug. 23, 2003, has raised an insanity defense to the murder charge. Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, maintains his client was suffering from a major mental illness at the time of the slaying at the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line and was not criminally responsible for his actions.

Courtroom security was tight yesterday as jury selection began in Worcester Superior Court. Four court officers remained in the courtroom during the proceedings and several correction officers were stationed in the hallway outside. Mr. Druce’s ankles were shackled over his trousers. He wore a striped tie and a pale blue dress shirt that concealed the tattoos covering his arms, but not those on his wrist and hand.

By the end of the day, nine jurors were seated to hear the case. A total of 16 jurors, including four alternates, will be impaneled.

Prospective jurors were questioned individually by Judge Francis R. Fecteau in an effort to ensure that those chosen would be able to decide the case based solely on the evidence. Potential jurors were asked, for example, whether they would be able to find Mr. Druce not guilty by reason of mental illness if the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proving not only that he committed the murder, but also that he was legally sane at the time.

They were told that Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence at the time of the slaying, but not that he was convicted in 1989 for the murder of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking. They were asked if the fact that Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence for molesting a young boy when he was killed would affect their ability to decide the case impartially.

More than two dozen prospective jurors were excused from service by Judge Fecteau, including two who said they had concerns about the validity of insanity

defenses, one who said he was a victim of molestation and had no sympathy for Mr. Geoghan and another who said he would hold it against Mr. Druce if he did not testify in his own defense.

Mr. LaChance exercised eight of his 16 pre-emptory challenges of prospective jurors. Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy used two of his. The pre-emptory challenges allow the lawyers to exclude potential jurors from the case without giving any reason for doing so.

The nine jurors who were seated yesterday, five women and four men, were asked to return to court at 2 p.m. today. It was not clear whether the lawyers would make their opening statements today or tomorrow. The trial is expected to last about two weeks once a jury is impaneled.

Mr. Druce allegedly confessed to the slaying, telling investigators he killed Mr. Geoghan to prevent him from sexually abusing other children after his release from prison. The ex-priest, accused in civil lawsuits of molesting more than 150 boys, was at the heart of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese.

January 9, 2006

INSANITY DEFENSE SET IN KILLING OF EX-PRIEST

Author:  Maria Cramer, GLOBE STAFF

The lawyer for Joseph L. Druce, charged with killing a former priest who was being held for pedophile acts, said yesterday that he hopes to convince jurors that Druce was insane when he allegedly choked and beat the priest, a convicted pedophile, to death in a state prison two years ago.
Druce's trial is scheduled to start today with jury selection in Worcester Superior Court. Druce is accused in the August 2003 killing of John Geoghan, the former priest.
Geoghan was serving a 9- to-10-year sentence for having groped a 10-year-old boy.
The two men were placed in the same protective custody unit at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, where Druce, who was serving a life sentence for another murder, allegedly strangled Geoghan and then is reported to have stomped on his body.
"We believe that he has a major mental illness that prevented him from being able to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law," Druce's lawyer, John H. LaChance of Framingham, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The Worcester district attorney, John J. Conte, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Prosecutors have charged Druce with first-degree murder and have said he carefully plotted to kill Geoghan. LaChance has said his client's public outbursts during a pretrial hearing showed his explosive mental state.
The Cape and Islands district attorney, Michael O'Keefe, said that it is generally difficult to convince a jury to acquit accused murderers on the basis of insanity.
"Those people who commit an offense while meeting the legal test of insanity, theoretically, should be acquitted of the offense," he said. "But they should also be put in a position where they are no longer a threat of society ... Unfortunately, people do not trust that judges will keep them locked up."
LaChance acknowledged the challenge of obtaining an acquittal by reason of insanity but said he is confident the jury will be swayed by Druce's past as an abuse victim.
Druce sent a letter to The Boston Globe last week outlining a plan that the Department of Correction punish imprisoned sex offenders who engage in "lewd and lascivious conversations regarding their sexual activities, past, present, and future."
"This policy should be mandated in order to prevent sex offenders from sharing their 'sick' experiences ... and to stop their planning future rapes, molestations and the like on innocent men, women and children," Druce wrote in his the three-page proposal sent to the Globe.
Diane Wiffin, a Department of Correction spokeswoman, declined to say yesterday in a telephone interview whether the agency would consider adopting the idea.
"We're not going to comment on anything he might have to say," she said.
LaChance said that he had not seen Druce's letter, but that he believed it was related to his client's allegations that he had overheard Geoghan talking about his experiences as a sex offender.
"What it does is it goes back to some evidence that will be introduced that Geoghan was talking with others about his sexual conduct and what he was going to do when he got out," LaChance said.
LaChance said he plans to introduce witnesses, including prisoners, guards, and a psychiatrist, who will testify about the circumstances of Geoghan's death and Druce's state of mind.
"I think that once they've heard the story of his life basically, the history of abuse, ... that the background for the whole thing will substantiate the mental illness that he has," he said.
LaChance declined to elaborate on the abuse Druce allegedly suffered. But Druce has disclosed many details about the alleged abuse on his website, which features pictures of himself as a child and as an adult and pointers on how to recognize potential child abusers.
In a lengthy entry entitled "This is Josephs' Story," Druce said teenagers sexually abused him when he was 8 or 9 years old at a residential school in which he was placed. Then, he said, he was abused by an older man, who plied him with alcohol and marijuana before raping him.
Druce was convicted of killing a man in 1989 and was imprisoned at maximum-security Souza-Baranowski. In April 2003, Geoghan was transferred from medium-

security Concord State prison to Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, which is part of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Shirley.
On Aug. 23, 2003, Druce allegedly followed Geoghan into his cell, jammed the door shut, then killed him. The death sparked calls for a sweeping review of state prisons, including an examination of assignments.
The department now reviews prisoner assignments carefully and has developed guidelines for placing prisoners in protective custody, Wiffin said. "This is an agency in reform," she said.
But Leslie Walker, executive director of the prisoners' rights advocacy group Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, said the state has more to do.
"Many people ... feel that [Geoghan's] death was preventable," she said. "Unfortunately, it's only when someone dies that there is enough attention drawn that reform can occur."
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.

January 8, 2005

Geoghan slaying trial opens today

Druce claims insanity in killing of ex-priest 

By Denise Lavoie THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON— When convicted pedophile priest John G. Geoghan was beaten and strangled in his prison cell, authorities had plenty of evidence against the man charged in his killing.

Prison officials said they found inmate Joseph L. Druce inside Geoghan’s cell, with the door jammed shut so no one could enter. A defiant Druce allegedly bragged openly about killing “the child molester” and told investigators he did it to “save the children.”

With Druce’s trial scheduled to begin today, the question for the jury won’t be whether Druce killed Geoghan, but whether he should be held criminally responsible. Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in Worcester Superior Court.

Druce’s lawyer, John LaChance, plans to use an insanity defense. He argued during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a “major mental illness.”

A convicted murderer who is already serving a life sentence, Druce has been hospitalized at least twice for ingesting foreign objects. In September 2003, just two weeks after Geoghan was killed, Druce swallowed pieces of a pencil in his prison cell. Three months ago, Druce swallowed a piece of television cable and a piece of his

eyeglasses.

Several pretrial hearings have featured Druce loudly complaining about his treatment in prison and what he has described as retaliation against him by corrections officers. During one hearing, Druce wrote “DRUCEGATE” on an envelope and propped it up for reporters to see.

Druce, 40, unsuccessfully used an insanity defense during his 1989 trial for the killing of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking Druce up hitchhiking.

According to psychiatric testimony at that trial, Druce was a troubled child who had violent fantasies. Records introduced during the trial showed he took the anti-psychotic drug Thorazine and the hyperactivity treatment Ritalin as a teenager.

After Druce was charged in Geoghan’s killing, authorities said he hated homosexuals. He also claimed he had been sexually abused as a child and killed Geoghan to make sure he did not molest any more children.

But defense lawyers who have used the insanity defense said no matter how much psychiatric evidence Druce’s lawyer may be able to produce, it may not be enough to persuade the jury to acquit him based on an insanity defense.

“It’s extremely difficult,” said Boston lawyer Joseph Balliro Sr., who argued unsuccessfully that Dr. Richard Sharpe, a cross-dressing dermatologist, was insane when he fatally shot his wife with a hunting rifle in July 2000.

“Inherent in a defense of insanity is that your client committed the crime. The second thing you’re going up against is that you need (psychiatric) experts, and in criminal cases, juries have the perception — whether it’s accurate or not — that those are just hired guns,” Balliro said.

In Massachusetts, juries are given a mandatory instruction by the judge that if they find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be sent to a prison psychiatric hospital, where he will be re-evaluated on an annual basis and could later be released.

“Jurors are afraid that if they acquit by reason of insanity in a murder case, that they bear responsibility if he commits another homicide because they are not confident he will be held (permanently) in a maximum-security hospital,” said J.W. Carney Jr.,

who used an insanity defense unsuccessfully in the case of John C. Salvi III, who killed two people and wounded five others at two Brookline abortion clinics in 1994. Geoghan, 68, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy and was accused in civil lawsuits of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades. He was killed Aug. 23, 2003, at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.

January 7, 2006

Geoghan's alleged killer to go to trial in Worcester

By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer  | 

BOSTON --When convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan was beaten and strangled in his prison cell, authorities had plenty of evidence against the man charged in his killing.

Prison officials said they found inmate Joseph Druce inside Geoghan's cell, with the door jammed shut so no one could enter. A defiant Druce allegedly bragged openly about killing "the child molester" and told investigators he did it to "save the children."

With Druce's trial scheduled to begin Monday, the question for the jury won't be whether Druce killed Geoghan, but whether he should be held criminally responsible. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Worcester Superior Court.

Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, plans to use an insanity defense. He argued during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness."

A convicted murderer who is already serving a life sentence, Druce has been hospitalized at least twice for ingesting foreign objects. In September 2003, just two weeks after Geoghan was killed, Druce swallowed pieces of a pencil in his prison cell. Three months ago, Druce swallowed a piece of television cable and a piece of his eyeglasses.

Several pretrial hearings have featured Druce loudly complaining about his treatment in prison and what he has described as retaliation against him by corrections officers. During one hearing, Druce wrote "DRUCEGATE" on an envelope and propped it up for reporters to see.

Druce, 40, unsuccessfully used an insanity defense during his 1989 trial for the killing of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking Druce up hitchhiking.

According to psychiatric testimony at that trial, Druce was a troubled child who had violent fantasies. Records introduced during the trial showed he took the anti-psychotic drug Thorazine and the hyperactivity treatment Ritalin as a teenager.

After Druce was charged in Geoghan's killing, authorities said he hated homosexuals. He also claimed he had been sexually abused as a child and killed Geoghan to make sure he did not molest any more children.

But defense attorneys who have used the insanity defense said no matter how much

psychiatric evidence Druce's lawyer may be able to produce, it may not be enough to convince the jury to acquit him based on an insanity defense.

"It's extremely difficult," said Boston attorney Joseph Balliro Sr., who argued unsuccessfully that Dr. Richard Sharpe, a cross-dressing dermatologist, was insane when he fatally shot his wife with a hunting rifle in July 2000.

"Inherent in a defense of insanity is that your client committed the crime. The second thing you're going up against is that you need (psychiatric) experts, and in criminal cases, juries have the perception -- whether it's accurate or not -- that those are just hired guns," Balliro said.

In Massachusetts, juries are given a mandatory instruction by the judge that if they find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be sent to a prison psychiatric hospital, where he will be re-evaluated on an annual basis and could later be released.

"Jurors are afraid that if they acquit by reason of insanity in a murder case, that they bear responsibility if he commits another homicide because they are not confident he will be held (permanently) in a maximum-security hospital," said J.W. Carney Jr., who used an insanity defense unsuccessfully in the case of John C. Salvi III, who killed two people and wounded five others at two Brookline abortion clinics in 1994.

Balliro, however, said Druce could engender some sympathy from the jury because of Geoghan's notoriety.

Geoghan's case sparked the clergy sex abuse scandal that erupted in Boston in 2002 when records were released showing that Cardinal Bernard Law and other church higher-ups had shuffled him and dozens of other priests from parish to parish despite allegations they were sexually abusing children.

Geoghan, 68, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy and was accused in civil lawsuits of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades. He was killed at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley on Aug. 23, 2003.

"This case may be an exception because you could get a jury who says who the hell cares who killed this guy?" Balliro said. "He ruined the lives of hundreds of kids."

Worcester District Attorney John Conte said after the slaying that Druce told investigators he planned the killing for more than a month. Druce is accused of jamming Geoghan's cell door shut with a book, then tying him up with a T-shirt and strangling him with socks.

Conte and Druce's lawyer did not return calls seeking comment before the trial.

Geoghan's slaying sparked sharp criticism of a prison system that allowed a high-profile pedophile priest such as the 68-year-old Geoghan to be housed in the same protective custody unit as Druce, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence.

Some inmate advocates say the trial may be as much about mistakes made by the Department of Correction as it is about Druce.

"It was a highly preventable death, and I think the corrections department is indictable in the court of public opinion," said Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, which advocates for inmates' rights.

After Geoghan's death, panels investigating the slaying found serious failures in the inmate classification system, disciplinary procedures and internal investigative practices of the Department of Correction.

Since then, the department has made significant changes to its inmate grievance system, employee disciplinary process and inmate classifications, said Deputy Commissioner James Bender.

"We have completely overhauled how we do business," he said.

September 6, 2005

Conte C-Pac investigation fails to uncover all facts, photos released lead to more questions.

Conte2006.com

Worcester District Attorney John Conte's C-Pac investigation of the murder of John Geoghan, did not uncover all factual information.

The Boston Herald this week released still photos of a video clip that was used in a disciplinary hearing of two corrections officers.  The still photos show a gruesome reenactment of the murder of the pedophile priest, John J. Geoghan.

After seeing the footage obtained by the Herald, Worcester District Attorney John Conte demanded that prison officials hand it over to prosecutors. But officials at the DOC said they have never had a copy of the tape and are investigating who made it.

In court on Thursday, September 1, Joseph Druce told Worcester Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman, that top administrators helped cover up the agency's role in Geoghan's killing in his cell in August 2003 at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.  "I was allowed to go into John Geoghan's cell,'' Druce said.

Druce is seeking to have the murder charge dismissed, claiming he has been harassed and denied access to his attorney by prison officials retaliating against him.

John LaChance, Druce's attorney said prison officials want to get back at Druce for embarrassing them when the news media and politicians criticized security procedures at Souza-Baranowski after Geoghan's killing, which sparked an overhaul of the state prison system.

The murder of Mr. Geoghan has been questioned by many who followed the clergy abuse crisis in Boston. Publicly some advocates for victims of clergy abuse have questioned if Mr. Geoghan was going to give testimony about Boston Catholic Church officials who had been protecting him for years.

Surely, placing Mr. Geoghan in maximum security with murders and other violent criminals was not justifiable. The frail aging Mr. Geoghan hardly appeared to be a security threat.   

Had Mr. Geoghan been held just a few feet away, prosecution of this case would have been handled by Middlesex County District Attorney, Martha Coakley.

DA Conte has a been publicly identified as supporting the Catholic Church, a complaint was filed with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission May 6, 2004, no decision as of yet has been issued by the Commission.  The complaint dealt with the fact that while DA John Conte was publicly declaring to be conducting a criminal investigation of the Worcester dioceses for sexual abuse of children, funds were being contributed to the Worcester Bishop from DA Conte's campaign chest.

Serious questions as to the investigation of Worcester clergy has surfaced since the onset of the clergy abuse crisis in 2002.  No proof of a grand jury subpoena has ever been provided by DA Conte. Not one clergy member of the Worcester diocese has been criminally prosecuted by information obtained by the "Grand Jury " subpoena, DA Conte claims to have issued. 

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Detectives detail Druce’s allegedly eager confession

WORCESTER— After telling two state police detectives he would enhance their career opportunities and likely get them promoted, convicted murderer Joseph L. Druce proceeded to give a five-page statement explaining how and why he killed defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan in his prison cell, the officers testified yesterday.

The testimony came during a Worcester Superior Court hearing on a defense motion to suppress Mr. Druce’s alleged confession in the Aug. 23, 2003, beating and strangulation death of the 68-year-old ex-priest in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.

Mr. Druce, awaiting trial on a murder charge in the slaying, is planning to raise an insanity defense. The motion to suppress is based on defense claims that Mr. Druce was beaten by prison staff after being removed from Mr. Geoghan’s cell and that he was “in pain, suffering from a major mental illness and in a manic state” when he made the alleged admissions to prison investigators and state police.

At the time of the killing in the protective custody unit at the maximum-security prison, Mr. Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Catholic archdiocese, was serving a sentence of nine to 10 years for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy. Mr. Druce, who has publicly identified himself as a victim of sexual abuse as a child, was serving a life sentence for the murder of a man he believed was gay.

State police Detective David Napolitano testified yesterday that Mr. Druce eagerly confessed to the killing at Souza-Baranowski after being advised of his Miranda rights on the afternoon that Mr. Geoghan was slain. Before doing so, the detective said, Mr. Druce told him that “he was going to make my whole career and that I’d probably get promoted after this case.”

Detective Napolitano testified that Mr. Druce told him he killed the defrocked priest because Mr. Geoghan “ ‘was talking about getting out and skinning more children and I just couldn’t let that happen.’ ” The detective said the suspect recounted sneaking into Mr. Geoghan’s cell, jamming the cell door with a book and other items to prevent anyone from intervening, and knocking the ex-priest down, smashing his face on the floor and strangling him with a pair of socks.
According to the statement, Mr. Geoghan pleaded for his life, telling his assailant, “It doesn’t have to happen like this.” Mr. Druce allegedly responded, “Shut up. Your days are over. No more children for you, pal.”

Detective Napolitano testified that Mr. Druce told him he intended to castrate the defrocked priest “to make a statement to the other pedophiles,” but couldn’t find the disposable razor he had brought along for that purpose. The suspect said he had been planning the killing for several weeks, according to the detective.

At other points during the interrogation, Mr. Druce said he believed the killing was an “honorable” thing to do and that he viewed the ex-priest as a “prize,” Detective Napolitano testified.

Under cross-examination by defense lawyer John H. LaChance, the detective acknowledged telling Mr. Druce, who had complained of sore ribs, that he could not have any pain medication until after he had finished giving his statement. Detective Napolitano said he was concerned that the medication might affect the suspect’s ability to communicate and might also result in claims that his statement was not voluntary.

Detective Wayne Gerhardt, who was also present during the interview, testified that Mr. Druce “viewed himself as a hero” and was “very proud of what he did.” The detective also recalled Mr. Druce’s statement preceding the interrogation that the two officers would “get promoted” for their work in the case.

Testimony in the hearing is scheduled to resume Sept. 27.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Officer says Druce boasted about killing

WORCESTER— A “boastful” Joseph L. Druce seemed “very pleased with himself” as he confessed to the prison slaying of pedophile ex-priest John J. Geoghan, a state Department of Correction official said yesterday.

Testifying at a Worcester Superior Court hearing on a defense motion to suppress Mr. Druce’s alleged admissions to prison authorities and police, Lt. Edward T. Hammond said the suspect later told him he expected to be “famous” for killing the 68-year-old defrocked priest and that “the pope would know him.”

Mr. Druce is awaiting trial on a charge of murder in the Aug. 23, 2003, strangulation and beating death of Mr. Geoghan, which happened in the victim’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line. Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, is raising an insanity defense to the charge.

The motion to suppress is based on claims that Mr. Druce was beaten by correction officers after being extracted from Mr. Geoghan’s cell and was “in pain, suffering from a major mental illness and in a manic state” when he spoke to investigators.

Lt. Hammond said he was working as an inner perimeter security officer at Souza-Baranowski on the day of the killing when he received word of a problem in the prison’s J-1 protective custody unit. He said he went there and found several officers struggling to open the door to Mr. Geoghan’s cell.

Lt. Hammond, a sergeant at the time, said he saw Mr. Druce inside the cell and the bound, lifeless and discolored body of Mr. Geoghan on the floor.

Mr. Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy. Mr. Druce, 40, who says he was sexually abused as a child, was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a man he believed was gay.

Lt. Hammond testified that the door to Mr. Geoghan’s cell had been jammed with a book and nail clippers and that it took correction officers several minutes to force it open. Mr. Druce was removed from the cell, thrown face-first onto the floor and restrained with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to the officer.

Lt. Hammond said he saw Mr. Druce about 10 minutes later in the prison’s health services unit, where he had been taken for medical clearance before being placed in segregation. He said Mr. Druce blurted out, “I killed that child molester. He was going to rape kids when he got out.”

The officer said Mr. Druce agreed to continue talking about the slaying after being advised of his Miranda rights. He said Mr. Druce signed a Miranda waiver form “Rev. Joseph Druce” and “seemed to find humor in that.”

During the conversation that followed, Lt. Hammond said, Mr. Druce told him that he had overheard a telephone conversation in which the ex-priest spoke of working with children at a mission in South America after his release from custody.

“I couldn’t let him do that,” Lt. Hammond said the suspect told him.

Mr. Druce then explained to him in painstaking detail how he carried out the killing, Lt. Hammond testified.

He said Mr. Druce told him he sneaked into the victim’s cell without being seen when all the cell doors on the unit were opened to allow the inmates to return their food trays. The suspect allegedly said he “conned” Mr. Geoghan into believing he did not intend to harm him and was simply staging a hostage-taking to get transferred back to the state prison in Walpole.

Mr. Druce explained how he jammed the cell door to prevent anyone from intervening, tied the victim’s hands behind his back with a T-shirt, and struck him in the face, knocking him to the floor, Lt. Hammond testified.

He said Mr. Druce told him he got on top of Mr. Geoghan, punched him in the face several times and strangled him with a pair of socks tied together until he saw blood coming from the victim’s nose and ears. He said he then wrapped a pillowcase around Mr. Geoghan’s neck and tied it in a knot to make sure he was dead, according to Lt. Hammond’s account.

The officer said Mr. Druce told him he intended to castrate his victim, but couldn’t find the disposable razor he had brought into the cell for that purpose.

Lt. Hammond said Mr. Druce told him he had also planned to kill two gay inmates if he had been able to escape from Mr. Geoghan’s cell. He said Mr. Druce volunteered that he had no assistance in the commission of the crime from Correction Officer David Lonergan, who was on duty on the unit at the time of the killing. Mr. Druce has since said in court that a correction officer allowed him into the victim’s cell.

Under cross-examination by Mr. LaChance, Lt. Hammond acknowledged that he did not take notes during his interview with Mr. Druce. The officer agreed with Mr. LaChance’s suggestions that Mr. Druce appeared animated, talkative and excited during the questioning and that some of his comments seemed “grandiose.”

Correction Officer Travis Canty, one of three officers who accompanied Mr. Druce from Mr. Geoghan’s cell to the health services unit, denied that the suspect was struck, pushed against a wall or otherwise abused while en route.

Asked by Mr. LaChance about photographs showing bruises on Mr. Druce’s face, Officer Canty said the injuries could have occurred when Mr. Druce was taken to the floor after being removed from Mr. Geoghan’s cell. The officer acknowledged injuring his hand while escorting Mr. Druce and said he accidentally struck it against a door frame.

Once at the health services unit, Mr. Druce “stated that he did it for the children” and spoke freely about the killing for about 20 minutes before Sgt. Hammond arrived, Officer Canty said. He did not begin the narrative, however, until someone asked him, “Why did you do it?” Officer Canty said.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Friday.  

Friday, September 9, 2005

Druce hearing is postponed

DA investigates leaking of videotape

WORCESTER— A court hearing concerning a videotape allegedly showing Joseph L. Druce re-enacting the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan was postponed yesterday, pending an investigation by the district attorney’s office into the circumstances surrounding the tape.

The Boston Herald obtained a copy of the video and published still photographs from it two weeks ago. The videotape reportedly showed Mr. Druce in a cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center shortly after the Aug. 23, 2003, strangulation and beating death of Mr. Geoghan, acting out the killing.

Mr. Druce, 40, is awaiting trial in Worcester Superior Court on a charge of first-degree murder in the prison slaying.

His lawyer, John H. LaChance, maintains the videotape may be relevant to a pending motion to dismiss in the murder case. That motion is based on a claim that correction officials have interfered with Mr. Druce’s right to a fair trial through a “pattern of misconduct and coercion.” Mr. LaChance, who is raising an insanity defense on Mr. Druce’s behalf, said the videotape may also provide evidence of his client’s state of mind after the killing.

Michelle McPhee, a Boston Herald reporter whose stories accompanied photographs made from the video, was subpoenaed by Mr. LaChance for a scheduled hearing yesterday before Judge Timothy S. Hillman. Mr. LaChance said he intended to question Ms. McPhee about the source of the video and any information she might have been given about how and when it was made. He said he already had been told by Ms. McPhee that she no longer had the video and had returned it to its unidentified source.

Jeffrey P. Hermes, a lawyer for the Herald, presented Judge Hillman with a motion to quash the subpoena.

The subpoena and motion to quash became moot, however, when Judge Hillman allowed a request by Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy to postpone the hearing. In his written motion seeking postponement, Mr. Murphy said the office of District Attorney John J. Conte was “investigating and interviewing witnesses regarding the videotape.”

Mr. LaChance said he did not object to the hearing being put off until after the investigation was completed.

At the time of the killing, Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence at the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line for the 1988 murder of a man he believed was gay. Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy.

Mr. Druce allegedly confessed to the slaying, telling investigators he killed the 68-year-old defrocked priest “to save the children.”

A hearing on a motion to suppress Mr. Druce’s statement to police is scheduled to begin today. Mr. LaChance maintains the statement should be excluded from evidence because Mr. Druce was “in pain, suffering from a major mental illness and in a manic state.”  

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Geoghan video allegedly pirated

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON— State corrections officials said a videotape allegedly showing defrocked priest John J. Geoghan’s accused killer re-enacting the slaying was an unauthorized, pirated recording made by a prison employee.

The Boston Herald obtained a copy of the tape and published images from it Monday and Tuesday and posted it on its Web site. The footage is said to show Joseph Druce pantomiming Geoghan’s murder soon after he allegedly strangled the convicted child molester in his cell at the high security prison.

After seeing the footage in the Herald, Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte demanded that prison officials hand it over to prosecutors. But officials at the Department of Correction said they have never had a copy of the tape and are investigating who made it. The department is required to turn over all evidence in the case to both Conte’s office and Druce’s defense lawyer.

DOC Commissioner Kathleen M. Dennehy said investigators have reviewed all video preserved since Geoghan was murdered on Aug. 23, 2003, at the Souza-Baranowski prison on the Shirley-Lancaster line. None of their videos match the images published in the Herald.

“Investigators have concluded that an unauthorized, pirated recording of live video footage of inmate Druce was made” when he was being held, Dennehy said.

Correction department spokesman Sgt. Paul Henderson said yesterday that officials believe an employee downloaded the footage of Druce to one of the prison computers linked to Souza-Baranowski’s 360 live surveillance cameras. It had to be an employee because inmates don’t have access to the surveillance system, he said.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Druce: Prison staff let me in pedophile's cell
By Associated Press

WORCESTER, Mass. - The man accused in the jailhouse killing of John Geoghan said Thursday that a Department of Correction officer allowed him into the pedophile priest's cell before the slaying so he could kill him, and top agency administrators are trying to cover it up.

``This ain't about the correction officers,'' Joseph Druce said after Worcester Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman granted his repeated requests during a pretrial hearing to speak. ``This is about the administration of the Department of Correction.''

Druce's attorney, John LaChance, also asked in the hearing to be given a copy of a videotape described in a published report this week that purportedly shows Druce re-enacting Geoghan's killing. The defense maintains the tape was released by the Department of Correction to try to sabotage Druce's chances for a fair trial.

During Thursday's hearing, Druce said top administrators helped cover up the agency's role in Geoghan's killing in his cell in August 2003 at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.

``I was allowed to go into John Geoghan's cell,'' Druce said.

Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel declined to comment Thursday on Druce's allegations.

After the hearing, LaChance told reporters he does not have any evidence of Druce's claim that a correction officer allowed him into Geoghan's cell for the purpose of killing him.

``That has not been a focus of our investigation,'' LaChance said. LaChance reiterated that the defense plans to use an insanity defense for Druce.

      Druce is seeking to have the murder charge dismissed, claiming he has been harassed and denied access to his attorney by prison officials retaliating against him for exposing lax security systems.

      LaChance said prison officials want to get back at Druce for embarrassing them when the news media and politicians criticized security procedures at Souza-Baranowski after Geoghan's killing, which sparked an overhaul of the state prison system.

Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was serving a 9- to 10-year sentence for molesting a 10-year-old boy. He had also been accused of sexual abuse by more than 130 people in civil lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Boston. Druce was serving a life sentence for murder in a 1988 killing.

Investigators say Druce jammed shut the door of Geoghan's cell so no one could enter, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old defrocked priest.

      Druce allegedly told investigators initially that he killed Geoghan ``to save the children.'' He later claimed that that statement was coerced from him by state police in violation of his constitutional rights.

Druce testified at a hearing in April that guards beat him after Geoghan's killing. He also said he was denied access to his attorney and harassed by prison officials who encouraged him to plead guilty to killing Geoghan so he would be transferred out of Souza-Baranowski. Prison officials have denied his claims and said he was not allowed to meet privately with his attorney as a matter of prison policy.

In Thursday's hearing, LaChance said the defense should be given a copy of a videotape that was described in a report this week in the Boston Herald. State corrections officials said the grainy tape was an unauthorized, pirated recording made by a prison employee.

After seeing the footage obtained by the Herald, Worcester District Attorney John Conte demanded that prison officials hand it over to prosecutors. But officials at the DOC said they have never had a copy of the tape and are investigating who made it.

      DOC Commissioner Kathleen Dennehy said investigators have reviewed all surveillance video preserved since Geoghan was slain, and none of their videos match the images published in the Herald.  

LaChance said he telephoned the Herald reporter who wrote about the tape and was told that she no longer has it. The reporter said Thursday she had returned the tape to the source she obtained it from, LaChance said

LaChance said he planned to subpoena the reporter to testify at a Sept. 8 hearing about the the date the tape was made and how it was made. He said he would not necessarily ask the reporter to reveal the source who provided the tape.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Druce lawyer, DA seek copies of macabre tape
By Michele McPhee

The video reviewed by the Herald shows the tattooed, muscular Druce re-enacting what appears to be Geoghan's murder with something bordering on exhilaration.

He mimes using a shoe to help tighten a makeshift garrote around his victim's neck. The ghastly game of charades continues with Druce stepping onto a cot and leaping onto the prone body of his victim.

Druce is accused of viciously slaughtering Geoghan when both men were jailed at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.

Druce, now 40, was serving a life sentence without possibility of parole for the 1987 murder of George Rollo, 51, of Gloucester, who Druce contended made a sexual advance after picking up Druce, who was hitchhiking.

Geoghan, 68, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for molesting a 10-year-old boy, although more than 100 people accused the former priest of sexual abuse.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Twisted con acts out priest slay: Macabre jailhouse video

By Michele McPhee

Prosecutors and defense lawyers were flabbergasted yesterday to learn of an explosive prison video in which grandstanding killer Joseph L. Druce pantomimes the brutal 2003 murder of an infamous pedophile priest.

But a Department of Correction official said his agency does not have the video, images from which appeared in yesterday's Herald.

``We are looking into the matter of the tape being released,'' said DOC spokesman Paul Henderson.

Druce's defense attorney, John H. Lachance, and Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte both said they would demand copies of the macabre video from the DOC.

Conte said he had not seen the tape, and asked DOC officials about it yesterday. ``Our office has certainly not seen it,'' he said. ``Basically, we just want to get this case to trial. That has been our purpose for quite a while now.''

Druce, who is serving life in an unrelated case, is expected in court Thursday for a hearing in the murder of John J. Geoghan, the defrocked Weston pastor accused of abusing scores of young children. Lachance said yesterday he plans to file a motion today aimed at obtaining the Druce video, and would argue that motion at the hearing Thursday.

``I don't have that tape,'' he said. ``All I have seen of that is what is in the newspaper.''

Conte said a series of motions – including one filed in April by Lachance claiming his client could not get a fair trial because of incessant harassment by DOC officials – have slowed the case.

Lachance, who received a phone call from Druce yesterday, said ``my client is very anxious.''

``He has had threats made to him by DOC personnel, not the guards, but DOC personnel,'' he added, declining to be specific.

Referring to the new video, Lachance said, ``There is no question that Druce was removed from Geoghan's cell after the incident. We have a tape of that.'' Lachance said there is also footage of Druce being treated at health services, but none of him acting out exactly how the murder unfolded.

it's a chilling pantomime of murderous violence performed by a man clearly flushed with self delight.

Joseph Druce may now claim he did not kill notorious pedophile priest John Geoghan in his cell, or if he did, he did it to "save the kids."

But a macabre video shot in Druce's cell shortly after the murder of the defrocked priest – and obtained by the Herald – shows him reenacting in grisly detail what is alleged to have happened when Geoghan was killed on Aug. 23, 2003

It is unclear what role the Department of Correction security surveillance footage will play in Druce's upcoming trial for Geoghan's killing, or if it has even been turned over to defense attorneys or prosecutors, but the video is a window into the torture that unfolded over the last seven minutes of the 68-year-old pedophile's life.

Still, the 150 children who claim they were molested by the man of the cloth during his 30-year career in six Catholic parishes have lived with their own inner versions of demons as evil as Joe Druce. They have done their own shaking. 

The sick game of charades that Druce plays out on the video shows a man devoid of any emotion except for selfish glee. He did not carry out the murder for the children.

"He did it to get out of general population and spend the rest of his sentence in protective custody," said one prison source. Druce is already serving a life bid for murdering a Gloucester man who he claimed tried to fondle him.

The clip starts with Druce standing in a cell naked but for white boxer shorts, his sinewy body scrawled with crude jailhouse tattoos. His pock-marked face is covered with a scraggly brown beard as he talks to himself in a mirror. 

There is no audio, so it unclear exactly what Druce is saying as he wraps a white T-shirt around his broad shoulders and then pulls a red DOC scrub shirt over his head. He then takes stretched-out gym socks and ties them around his waist.

He mimes walking into Geoghan's cell. He talks to an invisible victim, then acts out how he jams the cell door at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center with a carefully-cut paperback book. He spins around and throws a punch.

He falls to his knees, pulls his hands behind his back and wraps them with the white T-shirt. He then yanks an invisible victim to his feet and kicks him face-down to the floor.

Druce's face spreads into a cold grin as he reenacts how he allegedly choked Geoghan with the socks, pulling off the defrocked priest's own sneaker to use as a lever for the tourniquet. 

As he demonstrates the slow twisting of the noose, Druce's face twists in pain and he begins to shake, illustrating how Geoghan's body went into convulsions.  

But the violence does not stop there.

Druce starts to laugh to himself as he squats on the edge of the cell's steel cot. He points to his own neck, then leaps off the bed.

The motion is so brutal, the video shakes with the impact of each jump. One. Two. Three.

When the third stomping is complete, Druce turns to an imaginary audience and giggles. He shrugs his shoulders, smiles broadly and begins a victory jig, dancing around his cell with his thumbs raised in the air.

The video simulation mirrors what prosecutors have described in the slaying. An autopsy showed Geoghan's cause of death to be ligature strangulation and blunt chest trauma; broken ribs and a punctured lung.

The only detail missing in the video is the pillowcase Worcester County District Attorney John Conte said Druce used to "enhance the strangulation" and the razor he was carrying in hopes of castrating him. On the day of the murder, Druce's father, Dana Smiledge, told the Herald his son had been a victim of sexual abuse. Geoghan was serving a 10-year bid after his conviction on charges he groped a little boy in a pool a decade earlier.

The murder seemed to be motivated by braggadocio, and even prosecutors surmised Druce was proud of his new prison status of pedophile executioner. "He looked upon Father Geoghan as a prize," Conte said after the murder.

But the video is also a glimpse at pure evil, taking into account Druce at the time was a muscular 37-year-old who stands accused of killing a frail old man.

As a young man, Druce told a prison shrink that he expected "to go to Satan" where he will wait for his enemies "with a fork for them to come down.''

The DOC video suggests the devil was not willing to wait for Druce's soul.

August 26, 2003

EVIL PLOT
DA claims killer hunted former priest

DAVID WEBER, Boston Herald

The confessed murderer of pedophile priest John J. Geoghan meticulously planned the prison slaying for more than a month and took pride in his deed afterward, according to Worcester county district attorney John Conte.

Conte said inmate Joseph L. Druce, 37, who already is serving a life term for murdering a man he believed was gay, used a T-shirt to bind the 68-year-old Geoghan's hands, then strangled him with socks "he had been stretching for some time." Conte said Druce used a shoe as a lever to wind the socks tightly around Geoghan's neck and then pulled a pillowcase over Geoghan's head to hold the shoe in place.

"He (Druce) had a longstanding phobia, it appears, of homosexuals of any kind," Conte said. "I am not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but I would say he is filled with hate."

Druce's father told the Boston Sunday Herald that as a child, his son was a longtime victim of sexual abuse by adult men.

Conte said Druce also was carrying a razor and may have intended to castrate Geoghan, but was subdued by prison officers before he completed the task.

Conte said he has no information indicating Druce had any accomplices. But the district attorney was critical of prison policies that allowed a convicted murderer and avowed homophobe access to Geoghan's cell in a segregation unit at the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center in Shirley.

"The people of Massachusetts certainly have a right to expect that people who are incarcerated will be protected," Conte said. "This should not be a system of frontier justice.

"Our duty will be a very broad investigation to determine whether this was intentional on the part of others."

Conte said he was particularly troubled by a prison policy that called for 22 segregation cells to be opened simultaneously so that inmates could bring out their food trays after the mid-day meal Saturday.

It was during this security breach that Druce slipped into Geoghan's empty cell and awaited his return while only one correctional officer was present to observe the 22 inmates, Conte said.

To hinder corrections officers from getting into Geoghan's cell, Druce jammed the upper door track with a book, from which he had carefully torn out pages so it would fit. Conte said Druce used a nail clipper and toothbrush to jam the lower door track. After strangling Geoghan, Druce apparently jumped on the frail ex-priest's chest.

An autopsy conducted yesterday by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Evans revealed that Geoghan died of strangulation by ligature while suffering broken ribs, a punctured lung, and blunt chest trauma.

Conte said the entire violent episode lasted "seven or eight minutes" before corrections officers got into the cell and subdued Druce.

About midway through the murder, a trusted inmate, who had privileges to be outside of his cell, heard noises coming from Geoghan's cell, Conte said. The inmate consulted with another inmate before telling the on-duty officer that something was wrong.

Conte said two corrections officers normally were supposed to be watching Geoghan's cell block on Saturday morning, but one was accompanying a nurse who was distributing medication to inmates in another section of the prison.

"I am concerned that there was only one person on duty in that cell block housing 22 persons" while they were let out of their cells, Conte said.

Druce, a reputed member of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nation, whose legal name was Darren Smiledge when he was convicted of the 1988 strangulation of George Rollo in Essex County, eagerly admitted killing Geoghan when investigators talked to him after the disgraced priest was pronounced dead at 1:17 p.m. Saturday.

Asked if Druce was proud of killing Geoghan, Conte said "Absolutely. Without question. He looked upon Father Geoghan as a prize." 

August 26, 2003

MONTHLONG PLOT TO KILL GEOGHAN - DA DESCRIBES INMATE ATTACK
ROMNEY ORDERS CORRECTION PROBE

Michael S. Rosenwald, and Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff

Joseph L. Druce told investigators he planned the murder of John J. Geoghan for at least a month, plotting how he jammed the defrocked priest's cell door shut with part of a book, tied him up with a T-shirt, and used socks to strangle him after lunch, authorities said yesterday.

"He considered Geoghan a prize because he was so consumed with hatred toward homosexuals," Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said.

Druce, who had been in solitary confinement because of a fight until just two days before the attack, has provided investigators with precise details of the slaying Saturday at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, including how he got into Geoghan's cell by telling him "there was something about his coffee that he didn't like and he wanted to trade," Conte said.

"He said Geoghan had no idea what he was up to," Conte said, adding, "He was so proud of what he did."

Conte, whose office plans to present the case to a grand jury next month, detailed the attack yesterday as Governor Mitt Romney formed a special panel, headed by State Police Major Mark Delaney, to conduct an independent investigation of the events surrounding the slaying in the state's newest protective custody unit, where Druce and Geoghan were housed.

Edward A. Flynn, the secretary of public safety, said Romney directed him to conduct a sweeping investigation of the Department of Correction's policies and procedures. Although Flynn would not detail the investigation's focus, a state official said it would initially examine staffing levels at the Shirley facility and other prisons, as well as how inmates are assigned to the protective custody unit.

"We cannot escape the fact that an inmate died while in the care of the Department of Correction," Flynn said.

In detailing the attack, Conte said about two dozen cell doors in the protective custody unit opened on schedule at 11:48 a.m. for inmates to bring their trays to a common area after lunch. Prisoners have four minutes to return to their cells, and just before the doors automatically closed, Druce slipped into Geoghan's cell.

Druce, serving a life sentence for the 1988 strangulation death of a Gloucester man he believed was gay, jammed the door shut by inserting a book into the crack above it and a toothbrush and nail clipper into the space below. He prepared the book by ripping out the pages so that it would fit perfectly, Conte said.

Druce bound Geoghan's hands behind his back with a T-shirt and threw him on the floor, then strangled the 68-year-old, using socks he had "previously been stretching for some time." He used Geoghan's shoe to tighten the tourniquet, Conte said, and wrapped a pillow case around Geoghan's neck to "strengthen the strangulation."

Druce also had a razor in his pocket, said Conte who, in response to questions, added that inmates are not allowed to have razors and that it was "definitely possible" Druce intended to castrate Geoghan.

When another inmate saw the commotion in Geoghan's cell - including Druce jumping on the elderly man's chest - he told a correctional officer, who ran to the cell but had to radio for help when he couldn't open the door. "About seven or eight minutes" after Druce entered the cell, Conte said, officers pried the door open, but found Geoghan unresponsive. A nurse at the scene could not revive him, and he was taken to a Leominster hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:17 p.m.

Conte said there were two guards on duty and that one was with a nurse who was dispensing medicine.

Conte said the prison's procedures would be examined. Noting that nearly two dozen cell doors were open at once when the attack began, he said, "That to me seems like something that shouldn't happen."

An autopsy by Dr. Richard Evans, the chief medical examiner in Boston, ruled the cause of death to be ligature strangulation and blunt chest trauma, broken ribs, and a punctured lung, Conte said.

Investigators are perplexed as to why Geoghan didn't shout for help when Druce approached. Two state officials briefed by investigators said Druce persuaded Geoghan not to scream once he began tying him up by telling him it was just part of a ruse.

The two state officials, who asked not to be identified, said Druce told investigators he wanted to be transferred out of Shirley and believed he could do so by taking a hostage in the unit.

James R. Pingeon, a lawyer with Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, said a prisoner who has been represented by his office and was in the same protective custody unit at Shirley, contacted him yesterday to say he had complained to guards about Druce six weeks ago.

The prisoner, whom Pingeon declined to identify, told guards that Druce approached him earlier in the summer with a proposition: He wanted to take him hostage so he would be prosecuted for a federal offense and sent to a federal institution.

The prisoner said the guards to whom he gave the information about Druce dismissed his concerns. On Saturday, after Geoghan was slain, the prisoner tried to get to the State Police who were on site to provide them with the information, but he said the guards refused to let him talk to the investigators.

The inmate also said Druce told him that a third prisoner had offered Druce money to attack Geoghan, according to Pingeon.

Conte said his office is interested in speaking with Pingeon's client.

Druce was transferred into the high-tech protective custody unit in Shirley earlier this year after complaining to corrections officials that he had "a number of enemies" in general population in Walpole, where he previously was incarcerated.

Geoghan, a state corrections official said, had been transferred to the protective custody unit at Shirley because officers in Concord, where he was previously incarcerated, noticed that he was the target of harassment.

"The feeling was that he needed the added security that protective custody would bring," the official said.

But Geoghan, a frail man who walked slowly, was housed in a unit of about two dozen other prisoners - many of whom were young men serving lengthy sentences for violent crimes - including Druce, convicted of strangling a 51-year-old man in 1988. Druce stuffed him in the trunk of the victim's car and drove him to a wooded area.

"One of the general problems with the protective custody unit there is that you have inmates with very serious histories of assault in with people who are very vulnerable," Pingeon said.

Indeed, state Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel confirmed the account of a disciplinary report, read to the Globe, that said Druce was locked in an isolation unit until two days before the fatal attack on Geoghan. The report said Druce "exchanged closed-fist punches" with another prisoner in protective custody on Aug. 1 in the prison facility's gym before being stopped by correctional officers, Nantel confirmed. Druce was locked in isolation from Aug. 6 to 21, according to the report.

"There was an altercation - a basketball fight - and Druce was given segregation, which he served and was returned back to the protective custody unit," said Nantel.

When asked whether such an assault should have raised red flags, Nantel said, "It did not rise to the level of extra concern," and while such fights "are not commonplace, they do happen." Nantel said she could not comment on whether the other inmate in the fight was disciplined. She also did not know whether anyone was injured.

Conte said Druce told authorities he had planned the killing alone, but the district attorney said authorities would investigate the possibility that other inmates were involved.

The union that represents the corrections officers have long argued that there are too few guards to staff the prison.

Flynn said he believed it was "normal" to have two guards assigned to the protective custody unit, but said he would await the results of the investigation to say whether more guards were needed to provide security. Flynn also said staffing levels had been sufficient to provide security for the unit in the past.

Romney did not provide a timetable for the investigation, and Flynn declined to say when he might gain preliminary findings.

The four other former priests who are currently serving time in Massachusetts prisons for abusing youths will be interviewed by state officials to determine whether they are in fear of their safety, Flynn said.

Only two of the four are currently in general population, state officials said. They are: John R. Hanlon, serving a life sentence at Baystate Correctional Center in Norfolk, and Kelvin Iguabita, who was sentenced to a 12- to 14-year term this year and is currently incarcerated at MCI-Concord.

The two priests serving time in restricted prison facilities are: James R. Porter, 68, sentenced to 18- to 20-years in prison in 1993 and currently incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater; and Ronald H. Paquin, 61, in protective custody at MCI-Concord after being sentenced last year to a 12- to 15-year term.

Flynn said none of the four expressed any concern for their safety up to now. He underscored that they may spurn any offer for protective custody. "They have the right to say they don't feel at risk," Flynn said.

SIDEBAR:
Review Team appointed by Romney
Major Mark Delaney, State Police
Delaney, the commander of forensic sciences for the State Police Division of Investigative Services, is a 29-year veteran of the State Police. He directs operations at the three accredited State Police forensic laboratories, coordinating with district attorneys offices and police departments. Delaney formerly was captain of the Commanding State Police Detective Unit assigned to the attorney general's office, where he directed 30 detectives.
George Camp, consultant
Camp has worked with executive branches of government, legislative branches, and the courts in several states. He also has worked with the federal Bureau of Prisons and prison systems in Connecticut, Missouri, and New York. Camp has been affiliated for more than 25 years with the Criminal Justice Institute, an organization that provides technical assistance. He has written guides for dealing with prison gang violence, prison escapes, and working with prison employees. Camp has a doctorate in sociology from Yale University and a master's in criminology and corrections from Florida State University.
Mark Reilly, chief of investigative services, state Department of Correction
Reilly has worked for the department for more than 21 years, 16 of them dedicated to conducting investigations within a correctional environment. He began his career as correctional officer in 1982 and rose through the ranks to chief of investigative services in 2000. Reilly is responsible for overseeing and supervising investigations, security threat group intelligence, and apprehension efforts. He has provided technical assistance to other state correctional departments in New England and county departments throughout Massachusetts.
SOURCE: MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY 

August 24, 2003

EX-PRIEST GEOGHAN ATTACKED, DIES -
CLERIC AT THE CENTER OF SEX ABUSE CRISIS ASSAULTED IN PRISON

Michael Paulson, and Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff

John J. Geoghan, the defrocked priest whose three decades as an alleged child molester made him the notorious symbol of the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, died yesterday after being attacked by a fellow inmate at a Massachusetts state prison.

Geoghan's apparent killing, at the age of 68, was the stunning end to a devastating career in which Geoghan was accused of molesting nearly 150 children - assaults that helped force the resignation last year of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who returned him to parish work despite knowing of the alleged abuse.

Geoghan was in prison serving six years of a nine-to-10-year sentence for fondling a boy in a public swimming pool a decade ago, and he was still awaiting trial in another child abuse case. Last September, the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $10 million to settle legal cases brought by 86 alleged victims of Geoghan, and another two dozen civil suits are still pending.

State officials released little information about the death yesterday, declining to identify Geoghan's attacker, the motive, or the type of assault. The attack, which occurred in the protective custody wing of the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, is being investigated by the Worcester district attorney's office because the maximum-security facility is in Lancaster.

Geoghan's sister, Catherine T. Geoghan, came to the door of her West Roxbury home yesterday but declined to comment on her brother's death. A woman who answered the phone at the house also said the former priest's sister, who had stood by him throughout his trials, had no comment. Geoghan's attorney, Geoffrey Packard, did not return a telephone message left at his home.

But Geoghan's victims, his former colleagues, and church officials were stunned by the death.

"This case was tragic to the very end," said Monsignor Peter V. Conley, pastor of St. Jude Church in Norfolk. "For all his troubled life, and for all the troubles he brought to others, he didn't deserve this violent end. That's awful."

The Rev. Robert W. Bullock, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Sharon and president of the Boston Priests Forum, agreed.

"This is just another dimension to the continued tragedy," he said. "With all the enormity of his crimes, and the grave, grave harm he has caused to his victims, this also is a crime that has happened to him. No one should ever find any kind of vindication in this."

Bullock and numerous others interviewed yesterday questioned why Geoghan was not better protected by state officials.

Geoghan was being held in his own cell in the protective custody unit, said Kelly Nantel, spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction, and only 24 of the 64 units were occupied yesterday, she said.

"We take every life seriously," she said. "He was in our protective custody unit to keep him safe from other inmates. The protective custody units are designed for inmates who could became victims in the facility."

Nantel said she did not know whether Geoghan's attacker was also in protective custody, and did not know if the attacker had any previous relationship with the former priest nor cite any reason for the attack.

"It's odd that he wasn't better protected, given his notoriety he's the most famous child molester in prison right now," said Stephen J. Pope, an associate professor of theology at Boston College. "Geoghan's crimes were facilitated by the negligence of the church, but his death was facilitated by the negligence of the state."

Pope said the Geoghan case is reminiscent of that of John C. Salvi III, who was found dead in a Massachusetts prison in 1996. Salvi, who killed two women during a shooting at two reproductive clinics in Brookline, apparently killed himself.

A number of other infamous criminals have died while in state custody, including serial killer Jeffrey L. Dahmer, who was beaten to death in a prison bathroom in Wisconsin in 1994, and Albert DeSalvo, who many believe was the Boston Strangler, who was murdered in Walpole state prison in 1973.

A state lawmaker who serves on a committee overseeing prisons said he wasn't sure whether the Legislature should look into Geoghan's death.

"Not to sound cold here, but growing up, you hear about jail-house justice and this might be a case of that," said state Representative Demetrius J. Atsalis, a Barnstable Democrat on the Joint Committee on Public Safety. "Those who prey on children aren't seen in the same light as other convicts. Is it shocking? I don't think so. His crime was against children and convicts know that - they don't like it."

But Atsalis called Geoghan's death "distressing," and said "it's troubling when anybody's in custody of the Commonwealth and they die in prison. They become a ward of the state, and there is some responsibility with the state to make sure these people are safe. Obviously, there may have been a lapse. Who knows?"

The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center is the state's newest prison and is on the campus of the Shirley Correctional Complex. Geoghan had been held there since April 1, when he was transferred from a prison in Concord.

He was attacked about noontime, treated by medical staff at the prison, and pronounced dead two hours later at HealthAlliance Hospital Leominster Campus, Nantel said.

"Right around noontime he was seriously assaulted by another inmate," Nantel said. "He was evacuated to a local hospital by ambulance. He was treated