Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:51:00
I find myself torn
On the one hand, bad, bad criminal. On the other...
A jury today rejected a prison inmate’s insanity defense and found him guilty of first-degree murder in the strangulation of pedophile priest John Geoghan, a central figure in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal.
Joseph Druce admitted sneaking into Geoghan’s prison cell in August 2003. He jammed the door shut with a book, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old defrocked priest.
The defense had argued that Druce was mentally ill and under the delusion that God had chosen him to kill Geoghan and send a message to pedophiles around the world. Prosecutors presented a different picture, describing Druce as a conniving killer who planned the murder for weeks so he could be a “big shot” in prison.
“He was not a mentally ill person, raging out of control,” Prosecutor Lawrence Murphy said. “He’s a calculating individual who waited for his opportunity.”
After the verdict was read, Druce looked at the jury and said: “It’s all right. Good job.”
“No hard feelings. Have a good night,” he added as the jury filed out of the courtroom.
During the trial, Druce had described a troubled childhood in which his father beat him and his mother, and he said he was physically and sexually abused at a residential school for troubled children.
He killed Geoghan, he said, to avenge the innocent children the former priest was accused of molesting. He said he overheard Geoghan advise other inmates on how to molest children and say he planned to move to South America after prison so he could resume working with children.
“I had seen myself as the designated individual who had to put a stop to the pedophilia in the church,” Druce said.
I...uhh...kind of want to call Druce a hero, to be honest with you. Child molesters are bad enough. Priests who do it? Yeah...a little prison death is too good for them.
Posted by JimK at 11:51 PM on January 25, 2006
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Categories: News, Crime and Criminals, The Catholic Church
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Technorati: John Geoghan pedophile Boston Catholic Church Joseph Druce
Comments:
#2 Posted by padders 
on 01/26 at 09:14 PM -
I know you where talking more about Priests, but that guy should have perhaps waited until he got out of jail. With nice maps to sex offendors, you could easily get a few in one evening before you got caught.
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#1 Posted by Janna
on 01/26 at 04:51 PM -
I think I’m with you on this one Jim. If I was on that jury...I don’t know that I would have wanted to convict him. I go both ways. Murder...and pay the price. But murder a pedophille and I want to give you a medal.
If someone sexually abused one of my boys...I’d want to kill that person. And if I didn’t do it and someone else did...they would have my eternal thanks!