CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A defrocked Boston area priest has been sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s.
Paul Shanley, 74, a former "street priest" for troubled youth, was convicted last week of two counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery against a child.
In a statement read by prosecutor Lynn Rooney, the victim, now a 27-year-old firefighter, asked the judge for a hefty sentence and suggested he was asking on behalf of many others who could not press charges because of the statute of limitations, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.
"I want him to die in prison," the victim statement said. "Whether it's of natural causes or otherwise. However he dies, I hope it's slow and painful."
Shanley's defense lawyer, Frank Mondano, had sought a lesser sentence in a county house of correction, arguing Shanley had health problems, no criminal record and no likelihood of being a security risk. Later, he said he would appeal both the conviction and sentence.
