Defrocked Priest Sentenced to 12 to 15 Years in Sex Abuse Trial

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the Boston clerical abuse scandal, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison for repeatedly raping a young boy during the 1980s.

Shanley, 74, also was sentenced to 10 years’ probation. He was convicted last week on two counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He must serve at least eight years before becoming eligible for parole.

“It is difficult to imagine a more egregious misuse of trust and authority than that which occurred in this case,” Judge Stephen Neel told a courtroom packed with alleged victims of clerical abuse and their families.

Many wept and others nodded in agreement as prosecutor Lynn Rooney read a statement from Shanley’s accuser, who called the former priest a “monster,” “pervert” and “the lowest of the low.”

The 27-year-old firefighter, who has asked not to be named, said: “I came here to hear that Paul Shanley is going to die in prison. I want him to die in prison, whether it is of natural causes or otherwise. However he dies, I hope it is slow and painful.”

Another former priest convicted of child molestation, John Geoghan, was beaten and strangled to death at a Massachusetts prison in 2003. A fellow inmate confessed to killing Geoghan “to save the children.”

As Shanley, shackled and handcuffed, was led off to prison, many in the courtroom burst into applause.

The gray-haired man in a tweed sports jacket once was a popular Boston “street priest” who ministered to young people.

Records from the Boston Archdiocese show that as far back as 1967, church officials knew of sexual abuse allegations against Shanley. Church leaders also were aware that Shanley publicly advocated sex between men and boys.

Rather than removing him from work involving contact with children, church leaders shifted Shanley from parish to parish. He was assigned to St. Jean’s parish in the Boston suburb of Newton, where he molested his accuser.

The man was one of four who had come forward to accuse Shanley of taking them out of catechism classes and raping them in the church bathroom, confessional, rectory and pews. The three others dropped out of the criminal case or were dropped by prosecutors, who feared they would not withstand grueling court proceedings.

The remaining accuser -- who testified against Shanley over the course of three days -- cried as he described the abuse, which he said began when he was 6 .

Shanley’s lawyer, Frank Mondano, sought to discredit the firefighter because he had not remembered or reported the abuse until 2001.

Shanley did not take the stand or offer a statement in court Tuesday.

But Mondano, pleading for leniency, described the former priest as “a 74-year-old man with health problems. He is no threat to anyone. He is certainly not a security risk.”

Referring to 18 letters submitted to the court in support of Shanley, Mondano said: “This man’s life stands for the prospect of service to others.” Mondano said he would appeal the verdict and the sentence, calling the proceedings “devoid of fact” and “profoundly distorted by emotion.”

Middlesex County Dist. Atty. Martha Coakley said the prosecution -- and the accuser -- had hoped Shanley would receive life in prison.

“It is an understatement to say that the complaining witness in this case is disappointed,” she said. “He received a life sentence from Paul Shanley, and he had hoped Paul Shanley would receive a life sentence as well.”

The Boston Archdiocese last year reached an $85-million civil settlement with more than 500 clerical abuse victims; Shanley’s accuser received $500,000. The church scandal began in Boston three years ago, spreading across the country and around the world. Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as a result of the controversy.

Coakley said the Shanley case was particularly important because so many criminal complaints against Boston priests could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations on child abuse cases. But when Shanley moved to California in 1990, the clock stopped on Massachusetts’ 15-year statute.

“We can celebrate a conviction and a sentence that says we are finally recognizing truth over secrecy -- the last and only case that we were able to bring against Paul Shanley,” she said.

The accuser left the court without comment. But before sentencing, his wife and father took the stand to deliver statements.

His father, a corrections officer, faced Shanley and said: “You robbed my little boy of innocence. You destroyed his understanding of good and bad and right and wrong. You took his faith away.”

The accuser’s wife, who works for the Newton Police Department, told the former priest: “No words will ever explain my disgust for you. You are a coward who hid behind God. Your robe, nor your wit, nor your charm make you infallible.”