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CNN Live Today
Shanley in Court for Bail Reduction Hearing
Aired May 09, 2002 - 11:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, crisis in the priesthood. Retired priest Paul Shanley is in court this hour. His lawyer will ask a judge to reduce bail for Shanley, who is charged with child rape.
Our Jason Carroll is in Boston once again with the latest -- Jason, good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Daryn.
That hearing is just about to get underway. It's scheduled for 11:00 AM. We can take a look at the Middlesex County Courtroom where that hearing should be getting underway in just about a few minutes.
Paul Shanley's attorney, Frank Mondano, told CNN this morning that Shanley is well rested and he is ready for whatever court proceedings may come. Mondano will argue that bail is not necessary, because he says that Shanley is not a flight risk. He says he has roots in the community, he has no criminal record. And, therefore, there's no need to set a bail at $750,000.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, say that Shanley presents a severe flight risk. They say that church documents show that he had interest in going to Mexico as well as Guatemala. And they want bail to remain at $750,000.
Shanley, as you know, Daryn, is charged with three counts of child rape for allegedly molesting a young boy between the years of 1983 and 1990. In addition to this criminal case involving Shanley, there's also a civil case that's still pending involving Father Paul Shanley. And Boston's embattled Cardinal Bernard Law is scheduled to be deposed in that civil case on June 5th -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. And just to keep everything straight here, that civil case is different than the other civil case involving John Geoghan. And that's what had Bernard Law before a deposition yesterday.
CARROLL: Yes -- oh, absolutely. And yesterday he was questioned for several hours under oath for the first time about defrocked priest John Geoghan. And the archdiocese released a statement after the deposition saying that Cardinal Law fully cooperated and that he answered all of the questions. However, the attorney for the plaintiffs say that Cardinal Law suffered from a case of "selective amnesia." Those are his words. Cardinal Law said that he could not remember receiving a letter back in 1984 from a woman who said that several of her nephews were molested by defrocked priest John Geoghan.
Cardinal Law had actually initialed that letter, and actually wrote a note on the side of it to one of his bishops saying, "Urgent, please handle." But, once again, Cardinal Law said during his disposition he could not remember receiving that particular letter.
Cardinal Law is being deposed in that civil suit involving John Geoghan. There are 86 of Geoghan's alleged victims who are plaintiffs in that particular case. That deposition is scheduled to continue tomorrow -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yeah, Jason, meanwhile, let's get back to that live picture that's going to involve Shanley today. And, as you said, his lawyer thinking that it's too steep to say that bail needs to be set at $750,000 and that his lawyer saying that Shanley is not a flight risk. I read -- perhaps you mentioned this -- that his lawyer said, "We'll just put one of those electronic anklets on him and that will keep him where he needs to be."
CARROLL: Exactly. He wants to put some sort of an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, and he says that that should be sufficient. And, once again, he says he has roots in the community. He says that he has a number of family members and some former parishioners who are dedicated to this man.
And Frank Mondano says because of all those factors there's no need to set bail at $750,000. But, once again, I want to point out on the other side, prosecutors say that Shanley does present a severe flight risk. They had indicated about some of his travel plans.
Also, there are some sort of church documents that had indicated that Shanley said how easy it would be for him to sort of hide his address. On the flip side of that, Frank Mondano says that it was very clear that for the past three years he was living in San Diego. So both of those sides are going to be argued during this bail hearing which, once again, is scheduled to get underway very shortly.
KAGAN: All right. Jason Carroll, in Boston. We will check back with you when it does get underway.
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