Cheers or Jeers?

[seeker_two]

Geoghan Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Friday, September 19, 2003



WORCESTER, Mass. — An inmate (search) accused of slaying former priest John J. Geoghan (search) in prison pleaded innocent to murder Friday, then exited his arraignment screaming "Let's keep the kids safe!" and "Hold pedophiles accountable for their actions!"

Joseph L. Druce (search) allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in the defrocked priest's cell at Souza-Baronowski Correctional Institute in Shirley on Aug. 23.

In letters to newspapers, Druce has identified himself as Geoghan's "exterminator" and said pedophiles should be castrated. He's also boasted that he killed Geoghan to "avenge the children."

In Worcester Superior Court on Friday, Druce nodded his head as the clerk read the charge that he "did beat and murder" Geoghan. When asked for his plea, Druce shrugged and said, "Not guilty."

Druce's attorney John LaChance has said he plans to seek an insanity defense.

Geoghan, 68, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy and was accused of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades. His case triggered the sex scandal that has rocked the nation's Roman Catholic Church (search).

Druce, 38, is serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a gay man.

On Friday, LaChance asked that Druce be moved out of the Shirley prison, and Druce interrupted the proceeding to claim he'd found spit and feces in his food. But Judge John McCann denied the request. A pretrial conference was scheduled for Oct. 1.

 

[Art Eatman]

No cheers; no jeers. Just sadness and regret over a tragic situation.

Human frailty has always been with us. The only thing new and different about this set of events is the amount of publicity.

Art

 

[Carlos]

A caged animal killing a convicted sex offender, and a priest at that, is hardly the spokesperson for save the children we need.

Perhaps with his new murder, the authorities can put down this rabid dog once and for all.

 

[Ian Sean]

Perhaps with his new murder, the authorities can put down this rabid dog once and for all.

No chance of that happening in Mass., Peoples Republic of.

 

[Carlos]

Ok, perhaps one of his fellow rabid dogs will take his ??? out because he killed a priest. One can only hope.

 

[Bruce H]

Considering they were both rabid what is the point? Calling one a priest is a real streatch. Geoghan was a predator pure and simple. His assailant was a predator. Time for some predator control.

 

[Bigjake]

Perhaps with his new murder, the authorities can put down this rabid dog once and for all.



seems we're gona kill two birds with one stone, and one pretty cheap at that!

 

[Standing Wolf]

This wasn't justice in any way, shape, or form.

I believe people who sexually harm children should be hanged. There is no cure for child molesters and rapists, nor any known effective treatment program. It costs more to keep someone in prison for a year's time than it would to send a deserving young person to virtually any college in the nation. Ultimately, hanging child predators is a direct, forceful way for us to draw a moral, ethical, legal boundary around our nation's most precious resource, children.

 

[keederdag]

I dunno, the killer's scum, but I sure don"t have any pity for a Sexual predator. Tack on another million years to his sentance, and turn him loose in Seg. with the cho-mo's. JUST LET IT PLAY OUT....WE CANT LOOSE.