BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts has denied a request for a new trial by a former Roman Catholic priest who was a key figure in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal.
Paul Shanley claims he was wrongly convicted based in part on a victim’s repressed memories. His lawyer calls the theory of repressed memory “junk science.”
The Supreme Judicial Court said Friday that while the repressed memory theory is controversial, it’s generally accepted in the scientific community.
A man claims Shanley raped him repeatedly when he was a child attending catechism classes in Newton. He says he repressed memories of the abuse for two decades until media coverage of the scandal in 2002.
Shanley is serving a 12- to 15-year sentence for child rape and indecent assault and battery.