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	State Wraps up Case against Defrocked Priest By Denise Lavoie Telegram & Gazette [Cambridge MA] January 31, 2005 Prosecutors rested their child rape case against Paul Shanley on Monday after a former classmate of his accuser testified that the former priest and the boy left Sunday school classes together on several occasions. Prosecutors have said Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, would pull the boy from catechism classes at St. Jean's parish in Newton in order to rape him in the church confessional, pews, rectory and bathroom. Brendan Moriarty, who attended CCD classes with Shanley's accuser in the 1980s, said several boys were frequently sent out of the classroom when they became rowdy, including Shanley's accuser. He said he recalled seeing Shanley and his accuser leaving the classroom together. After prosecutors called their final witness, Judge Stephen Neel threw out one of the three child rape charges at the request of Shanley's attorney. That leaves him facing two counts of raping a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. The maximum sentence would be life in prison. Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, asked for dismissal of a charge related to oral sex because the accuser's testimony didn't support it. Prosecutors didn't object, and Neel dismissed one charge. Following an off day, Mondano will begin presenting his case on Wednesday. The judge said Mondano only plans to call one witness, Elizabeth Loftus, a well-known psychologist who has challenged the reliability of recovered memory. She may not be available until Thursday, Mondano said. Shanley's accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says he remembered in early 2002 that he'd been repeatedly raped and molested by the former priest from 1983 to 1989 at St. Jean's. He says he recovered his memory after talking with Greg Ford, a close friend who also accused Shanley of raping him at St. Jean's in the 1980s. Ford and two other alleged victims were dropped from the case by prosecutors before it went to trial, leaving just the one accuser to testify against the former priest. Earlier Monday, a psychiatrist testified that it's "not common, but it's not at all rare," for adults who suffer trauma as children to repress memories of the experience. Dr. James Chu, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said repressed memory is more common among people who suffered repeated trauma as children than in those who suffered a single traumatic event. "It really is more this repeated trauma that tends to be forgotten by some mechanism," Chu said. Under cross-examination by Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, Chu acknowledged that there is an intense debate within the psychiatric community about the validity of repressed memories. He also conceded that false memories can be implanted in a person's mind through repeated suggestions by someone they trust. Mondano has said Shanley's accuser tailored his allegations to match those of Ford, whose accusations were nearly identical, and that he concocted his story to get in on the multimillion settlements paid out to victims in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal. The man settled his lawsuit with the archdiocese last year for $500,000. Moriarty was one of four former CCD classmates of Shanley's accuser who testified Monday. They all described behavior in the class as "unruly" and "rowdy." One of them, Kerry Lessard, acknowledged under questioning by Mondano that she told a Newton police detective she couldn't recall anyone, including Shanley, removing students from class for misbehaving. She also told the officer that Shanley was a "gentle person." Shanley, now 74, became one of the scandal's most notorious figures after archdiocese personnel records were released showing church officials continued to transfer him from parish to parish even after they knew he publicly advocated sex between men and boys. His is also one of the few cases in which prosecutors have been able to bring criminal charges against priests accused of molesting boys decades ago. Most of the priests named in civil lawsuits avoided prosecution because their crimes were committed so long ago that charges were barred by the statute of limitations. Because Shanley moved out of Massachusetts, the clock stopped. He was arrested in California in May 2002
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