Psych records of Shanley accusers sought

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By David Weber
Tuesday, December 30, 2003

A Middlesex prosecutor joined the Rev. Paul Shanley’s defense attorney yesterday in asking a judge to unseal psychiatric treatment records of three of the alleged victims of the accused pedophile priest.




     Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney said neither she nor defense attorney Frank Mondano have seen the contents of three manila envelopes that Judge Carol Ball had previously determined to be “privileged” medical records.




     Yesterday, Judge Paul Chernoff said he would read the two lawyers’ motions asking for the release of the information and determine whether there is clear reason to grant their request before Chernoff transfers to a different judicial assignment in January.




     If Chernoff deems the matter too complicated to deal with in the short time before his transfer, he said he will pass it along to another judge who can give it the proper consideration.




     In this criminal case, Shanley is accused of raping three boys while he was assigned as a priest at St. John the Evangelist Church in Newton in the 1980s. The church has since closed.