Boston Priest Loses Appeal in Sexual Abuse Case

A court has rejected a new trial for a dismissed priest who was one of the central figures in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal. Paul R. Shanley is serving a 12- to 15-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2005 of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s. In his bid for a new trial, Shanley argued that his trial lawyer did not properly challenge the theory of repressed memory. The victim testified that he did not remember the sexual abuse until 2002, when memories came rushing back amid news coverage of the scandal. However, Judge Stephen Neel, who presided at Shanley’s trial and heard his motion for a new trial, rejected that argument yesterday. (AP)