John J. Geoghan, the former priest who used his clerical collar and cunning to wage a decades-long rampage against young children, was strangled and beaten to death yesterday by a fellow inmate at a maximum security prison in Shirley, authorities said.

``It's a tragic end to a tragic life,'' a somber Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley said yesterday after celebrating Mass in Medford.

The attack occurred at noon and Geoghan was pronounced dead at Leominster Hospital around 1:15, said Kelly Nantell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction.

The cause of death was ``strangulation'' and ``blunt trauma,'' a law enforcement source said.

Joseph L. Druce, a 37-year-old self-proclaimed neo-Nazi serving a life sentence for strangling and mutilating a Gloucester man, will be charged with murder, Worcester County District Attorney John Conte said last night.

Last year Druce, who changed his name in prison from Darrin Smiledge, pleaded guilty to sending hoax letters laced with white powder and swastikas to a New Hampshire federal prosecutor and 39 Massachusetts lawyers with apparently Jewish surnames.

Geoghan, whose case triggered the worldwide church sex abuse scandal, was being held in isolation as one of two dozen inmates at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center - a new prison designed specifically to house inmates considered to be at risk of being harmed by other prisoners.

News of Geoghan's death sent shock waves through the community of clergy sexual abuse victims yesterday.

``It's a surprise,'' said Ralph DelVocchio. ``The guy didn't deserve to die. He deserved to be in jail for what he did and serve his sentence in jail.''

Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer whose clients' suits against the archdiocese alleging abuse by Geoghan helped unravel the secrecy surrounding the crimes, said many of his clients were ``stunned'' by the news.

``They also feel eerie about the death of John J. Geoghan,'' Garabedian said. ``They feel as though there's been a dark cloud about the John J. Geoghan matter since its inception in 1994 and his death only darkens that cloud.''

One woman said she felt partly responsible for Geoghan's death, Garabedian said.

Geoghan was already one of the most infamous molesters in Massachusetts when Garabedian brought his first civil case against the former priest. The list of accusers - most of whom became plaintiffs in civil suits - swelled to more than 140 over the past nine years.

In the largest settlement paid to date by the Boston archdiocese, 86 Geoghan victims represented by Garabedian won a $10 million payment last year.

The cases took on international ramifications when Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney ordered the Boston archdiocese files produced during litigation be made public. The records revealed a pattern of coddling and reassigning abusive priests that ultimately led to the December resignation of Bernard Cardinal Law.

``(Geoghan's) victims are pivotal, indeed heroic, because if not for those brave men and women, the crimes of Geoghan and bishop after bishop after bishop who covered for him would still be secret,'' said David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP.

O'Malley told the Herald he'd only ``just learned'' of Geoghan's murder, and chose not to broach the subject during his homily.

``I prayed for him,'' O'Malley said. ``I feel sorry for his family, too. It will also no doubt be upsetting to the victims - thrust into a situation of remembrance. It's very sad.''

BostonHerald (www.bostonherald.com)

Meangya, I read about that.

BOSTON (Aug. 24) - Prosecutors investigated on Sunday how a convicted murderer said to bear a grudge against homosexuals managed to strangle fellow inmate John Geoghan, a pedophile priest at the center of a church sex abuse scandal, inside one of Massachusetts' most secure prisons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOW IN ISOLATION

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

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

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

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

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



08/24/03 10:11 ET

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I guess this topic is so popular we now have two theads running about this. :lol:

Oops, just saw this was already posted. Sorry.

Originally posted by Janice
Oops, just saw this was already posted. Sorry.


I know how you feel. Sometimes I make these sort of mistakes myself. :lol:

Originally posted by Brian
I know how you feel. Sometimes I make these sort of mistakes myself. :lol:
LOL, the oddest thing is that I looked for the thread before I made a new one, but somehow my eyes just went past it. :bonk:

Good

sucks for him.

The catholic church is full of child molesters... They all (child molesters) deserve to die! :livid:

This is so bizarre. It's okay if there are two threads, because there are so many people who are caught up in the shock of these events.

People have to remember there is a big difference between homosexuals and pedophiles. Of course assailants in prison aren't going to make that distinction.