February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Paul Shanley, who is now 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He will be tried at Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Prosecutors had originally started out with four alleged victims in the case, all of whom are men who claimed that Shanley sexually molested them years ago when they were boys at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton, Mass., where Shanley was a priest. The men all told similar stories of being raped by Shanley in the rectory, confessional and restroom of the church.
Prosecutors have since dropped three of the alleged victims from the case because of questions about their willingness and ability to withstand courtroom examination.
Two of those alleged victims have histories of psychiatric hospitalizations and homelessness, and one of the men has not made himself available to the prosecution team in recent weeks.
The remaining accuser in the case claims that Shanley repeatedly molested him from 1983 to 1989, beginning when he was six years old. He claims that he was first able to recall the abuse in Feb. 2002 after reading a newspaper account of Shanley’s legal woes.
Prosecutors, who formerly felt that they had a very strong case against Shanley, now acknowledge that the dwindling list of alleged victims will make their job harder.
The trial, which will be televised on Court TV, is expected to last two weeks or less.