Abused By Priest, In Jail For Murder, Now a JW

by Funchback 5 Replies latest social current

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  Funchback

  No parole hearing for alleged Geoghan victim

  By John Ellement, Globe Staff, 1/14/2003

  former Boston man who alleges that sexual abuse by a pedophile priest indirectly led him to savagely murder an elderly Roslindale woman in 1981 will remain in prison after the state Parole Board rejected his commutation request.

  Acting as advisers to Governor Mitt Romney, the board voted 7-0 Friday against holding a public hearing to consider whether James M. Costello should be eligible for parole. A public hearing is the first step in the lengthy commutation process. He is serving life in prison without parole for first-degree murder.

  Now 37, Costello was 15 when he and an older friend murdered 80-year-old Palmira Piciulo in her Hyde Park Avenue apartment, where she lived alone.

  Costello alleges that he was abused by now-defrocked priest John J. Geoghan while serving as an altar boy at St. Andrew's Church in Jamaica Plain. Several of Costello's siblings also alleged that they were abused by Geoghan, and they and their mother have settled claims with the Archdiocese of Boston. Costello has a civil suit pending against Geoghan and the archdiocese.

  While still a priest, Geoghan testified for Costello in 1981 when Costello's lawyer tried unsuccessfully to have him tried as a juvenile. Geoghan, according to Costello's current attorney, Helen Holcomb, could have helped Costello if he had acknowledged molesting him.

  Holcomb said Costello must now wait a year before again seeking commutation.

  She said Costello, in recent years, has had a clean disciplinary record, works as a Spanish translator for inmates, and has become a Jehovah's Witness. ''I can't believe the board decided his fate without granting him a hearing,'' she said.

  In a four-paragraph letter to Costello, the board said his prison behavior had improved, but ''you do not appear to have made exceptional strides in self-development. You have had very poor institutional behavior up until the last few years.''

  The board also said it was swayed by the viciousness of the crime. ''This was an extremely atrocious crime, which involved the beating and murder of an 80-year-old woman as she screamed.''

  This story ran on page B4 of the Boston Globe on 1/14/2003. Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

  http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/014/metro/No_parole_hearing_for_alleged_Geoghan_victim+.shtml

  Edited by - Funchback on 14 January 2003 14:26:4
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  Funchback

  The irony is this:

  What would this man do if, after getting paroled and then marrying and having a child, his child gets abused by a JW? Kill again?

  I wonder if he knows about the JW pedophile scandal.........
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  rocky220

  Oh but JR.BROWN claims there is no problem...........no more, no less than any where else!!!!

  It's going to take, unfortunately all parolees [with sex offense convictions] to find their way into every Dumbdum Hall.....to be welcomed with open arms...and when these creatures get a whiff on how easily they can predate on these poor unsuspecting women and children, the elders will have their hands fulll!!!!! And all because of Blotchtower arrogance!!!!!................rocky220
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  rocky220

  Oh but JR.BROWN claims there is no problem...........no more, no less than any where else!!!!

  It's going to take, unfortunately all parolees [with sex offense convictions] to find their way into every Dumbdum Hall.....to be welcomed with open arms...and when these creatures get a whiff on how easily they can predate on these poor unsuspecting women and children, the elders will have their hands fulll!!!!! And all because of Blotchtower arrogance!!!!!................rocky220
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  Funchback

  rocky-

  I don't think that the WTBTS will have their "hands full" because they are constantly washing their hands of any wrongdoing.

  But, hopefully, if they (the WTBTS) keep getting caught with their pants down, then the proper authorities will crack down on 'em.
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  Curious Mind

  Was he expecting preferential treatment ie parole, because he had become a JW in recent years.

  I hope the screams of his 80 year old victim haunt him EVERY night, and he receives the same amount of mercy from Jehovah on his judgement day- none, absolutely none!!

  Theres a real good chance of that.

  Curious MInd