Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced today to serve 12 to 15 years for repeated sexual assault over the course of six years of a young boy in the 1980s. Shanley will be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, and once released from prison will be on probation for ten years, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutor Lynn Rooney has asked for a life sentence, saying, “He used his collar and he used his worshipped status in that community. There has been no remorse shown on the part of the defendant. There has been no acceptance of responsibility,” AP reports.
Shanley, 74, will serve his sentence in a medium-security state prison rather than a county lock-up, which his lawyer had requested, according to Bloomberg News. Another notorious Boston priest who was convicted of pedophilia was killed in prison by fellow inmates. “We fervently hope that corrections officials will take great care to make sure no more violence occurs either by or against Shanley when he’s behind bars,” said Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “We also hope that Shanley will now search his conscience and disclose to the police, prosecutors, and the public what he knows about cover ups of sex crimes by church officials.”
