Victims React To Geoghan Murder

Ex-Priest, Named By 130 Alleged Victims, Had Faced Many More Trials

(CBS/AP)  For years he was protected by the Catholic Church - decisions for which church officials have since apologized, although only after their actions were publicly exposed.

But the protection behind bars for former priest John Geoghan - the convicted child molester whose case cracked open the sex scandal in the Catholic Church around the world - was not enough to shield him from a fellow inmate.

Worcester District Attorney John Conte says Geoghan, 68, was strangled just before noon Saturday by Joseph Druce. Geoghan died at 1:17 p.m., shortly after he was taken to UMass Memorial Health Alliance, Leominster Campus.

The incident happened at the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, about 30 miles northwest of Boston. Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel says Geoghan was being held in protective custody - which kept him away from most other inmates - but he still had some contact with other inmates who were also in protective custody.

Authorities have released few details, saying they don't want to compromise the investigation, but the Washington Post quotes a prison guards' union official as saying Druce followed Geoghan into his cell after lunch. According to the union official, Druce somehow jammed the cell door to keep guards out, bound and gagged Geoghan, punched him, and jumped on him several times from an upper bunk before strangling him.

Druce, 37, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of a 1988 murder, armed robbery, and other charges. Following Geoghan's strangulation, Druce was placed in isolation and officials say he will face murder charges in Geoghan's death.

This is not Druce's first alleged crime since his 1989 sentencing. In 2001, Druce was charged with mailing a threatening letter containing white powder and indicating it was contaminated with anthrax.

The Boston Globe reports that Druce, who changed his name from Darrin Smiledge, is an admitted neo-Nazi who entered a guilty plea last year in the anthrax case, in which 39 lawyers with surnames that appeared Jewish received white powder in envelopes.

On another occasion while in jail, he is accused of having mailed his own feces to the Massachusetts state attorney general.

In an interview with the Globe, Druce's father, Dana Smiledge, says his son has a long-standing grudge against homosexuals.

The Boston Herald quotes court documents as saying that was a motive in the 1988 murder, in which it was claimed that he killed the victim after a homosexual advance was made.

"I can't understand why they would put a guy who would kill a sex offender in a cell with a sex offender," Smiledge told the Globe, adding that he wants nothing more to do with his son, who has threatened to kill his family.

It is not clear whether the two men ever did share a cell.

In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people have claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his three decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes. He was convicted last year of indecent assault and battery for fondling a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool. Prosecutors couldn't bring charges in other cases because the statute of limitations had expired.

Phil Saviano, himself a victim of abuse by a priest, founded a survivors network. He told CBS News Radio, "His suffering is over, and I don't think that's a good thing." Saviano said he wishes Geoghan had lived a long, healthy life - in prison.

Ronald Linscott, another abuse survivor, says Geoghan "got off easy. It's the rest of us that have to deal with life on a daily basis."

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for many Geoghan victims, said he was "surprised and shocked" by Geoghan's death.

"Many of my clients would have rather seen Father Geoghan serve out his time in jail and endure the rigors of further criminal trials, so that his pedophile acts could have been exposed further," he said.

Geoghan often targeted boys from broken homes, ingratiating himself during frequent visits and various recreational activities. One victim said Geoghan molested him as the two were driving home from getting an ice cream cone. Others said Geoghan molested them after visiting their rooms at bedtime to tuck them in, sometimes while whispering prayers.

The church abuse scandal, which has had repercussions worldwide, broke in 2001 with revelations that the Boston archdiocese had shuttled Geoghan from parish to parish despite warnings about his behavior.

The scandal mushroomed after a judge ordered the release of archdiocese files involving dozens of priests, showing repeated examples of the archdiocese shipping priests to different parishes when allegations arose.

Soon, dioceses and bishops across the country came under scrutiny for their handling of abuse allegations over the years, with the church tainted by scandal in many states. With the public outcry reaching a new crescendo, the bishops adopted a toughened policy against sex abuse and more than 325 priests of the roughly 46,000 American clergy were either dismissed or resigned from their duties in the year after the Geoghan case.

David Clohessy, national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said what made Geoghan's case more "than just a single case about a single predator" was that it revealed the corruption in the church.

"In many respects, Geoghan is not the pivotal figure, it's the people who he wounded and still came forward and the bishops who enabled him but were finally exposed," he said.

The Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, offered prayers for Geoghan's family.

"Upon hearing the news of the tragic death of John Geoghan, the Archdiocese of Boston offers prayer for the repose of John's soul, and extends its prayers in consolation to his beloved sister, Kathy, at this time of personal loss," he said.

Geoghan was defrocked in 1998 at Cardinal Bernard Law's urging. Law stepped down as archbishop of the Boston Archdiocese in December, 11 months after the release of Geoghan's files.

Geoghan was convicted in January 2002 for grabbing the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in 1991. He was sentenced to nine to 10 years in prison.

In September 2002, the archdiocese settled with 86 Geoghan victims for $10 million, after pulling out of an earlier settlement of about $30 million.

One of those victims, Ralph DelVecchio, said Geoghan deserved prison but didn't deserve to be killed.

"I wouldn't say he deserved to die, you know?" DelVecchio said. "He was in jail - that's where I believed he should be."

DelVecchio said he didn't wish ill on Geoghan.

"It's over with," he said.

Another victim, Frank Leary, took a harder line. "Good," he said, when told by The Globe of Geoghan's death. "What do you expect? He's where he was supposed to be and this is probably what's supposed to happen to him."

While much of the Geoghan case may be over, that certainly is not true of the scandal itself, in other parts of the U.S. and the world, and even in Boston itself.

A recent report by state Attorney General Thomas Reilly estimated that more than 1,000 children were abused by priests in the Boston archdiocese in the last 60 years. The Boston Archdiocese has offered $65 million to settle cases filed by more than 540 alleged victims.

On Saturday, the archdiocese announced that four priests had taken voluntary leaves of absence in response to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. The church had asked the priests to step aside until the alleged incidents - all said to have occurred decades ago - are investigated and resolved.