Free Republic

It could be wedding bells for one of the state’s most notorious murderers, as a South Carolina woman is planning to say “I do” to pedophile priest killer Joe Druce - if prison officials approve the lockup lovers’ big house bonds of matrimony. Shirl Borden, a Christian minister and Air Force veteran who has helped Druce in his many legal wranglings, said the man convicted of killing priest-turned-perv John Geoghan proposed and she’s decided to take the plunge. “I took years to think about it and I’ve decided to say ‘Yes,’ ” Borden told the Herald. “I fell in love...

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - A jury rejected an insanity defense and found prison inmate Joseph Druce guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder in the strangulation of pedophile priest John Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal. 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 before guards could stop him. 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. Prosecutor Lawrence Murphy...

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The inmate who strangled child-molesting priest John Geoghan behind bars testified Monday that he resolved to kill the clergyman after Geoghan arrogantly brushed off criticism that he had "destroyed all kinds of lives." Joseph Druce took the stand for a second day at his trial for killing Geoghan, who was serving time for groping a 10-year-old boy and had been accused of molesting 150 other children. Druce, 40, said that in the weeks before the slaying, he twice confronted Geoghan about molesting children. Instead of denying the accusations, Geoghan was "arrogant" and said he was worth...

Worcester, Mass. -- Moments after guards first pried open the jammed door of John Geoghan's prison cell, Joseph Druce confessed that he killed the child-molesting former priest to protect other youngsters, a guard testified Wednesday as the prisoner's murder trial began. Four guards brought Druce to the prison hospital unit, where he sobbed while confessing to killing Geoghan, guard Travis Canty said. According to prosecutors, Druce had jammed the door of Geoghan's cell shut with a book, then strangled the defrocked priest with a pillowcase, socks and a sneaker. "He said that he did it for the children," Canty said,...

I first read a few headlines and articles that yelled defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan had been murdered in prison by another inmate. Details of who did it, in these first articles, were absent. Then, they started to appear. Neo-nazi. A murderer. A homophobic. A sketch of a man formed in my head, not the prettiest one. A man filled with hate for no reason. NY Daily News: "Perv priest's body was pummeled." MSNBC: "Prison inmate had ‘phobia’ toward homosexuals. " A quote appeared again and again, all over the media, saying, "he has a longstanding phobia, it appears, towards...

August 27, 2003 Two Former Priests Moved By a Massachusetts Prison By FOX BUTTERFIELD with MARC SANTORA BOSTON, Aug. 26 — Two former priests convicted of sexual abuse of children have been moved to the hospital wing of their prison after the killing of another jailed priest last weekend, prison officials said today. The officials described the transfers as new details emerged about an inmate's account that he had tried to warn guards of an impending threat. The two former priests, Kelvin Iguabita and Ronald J. Paquin, were in the state prison at Concord and were transferred at their request...