Child-Molesting Priest Strangled To Death
 

Murder Jury Views Video Of Frantic Effort To Save Priest

Worcester, Massachusetts - Jurors saw dramatic video Thursday of prison guards frantically trying to open the cell door of John Geoghan, then dragging another inmate out after he strangled the child-molesting former priest.

As the murder trial of Joseph Druce continued for a second day, the images — some in real time, others in time-lapse photography — conveyed the guards' desperate attempts to open the door after they realized Druce was inside.

Several guards are seen pulling on the door, which Druce had jammed shut with a book and nail clippers. After the guards retrieve tools to open it, Druce is seen being dragged from the cell. The crime itself is not visible on the tape.

Geoghan, 68 when he died in August 2003, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy but had been accused in lawsuits of molesting 150 youngsters.

Also Thursday, an investigator testified that Druce told him he had "conned" Geoghan into believing he intended only to hold him hostage and wouldn't hurt him.

Druce appeared "pleased with himself" as he confessed shortly after he was pulled from the cell, said Edward Hammond, an internal affairs investigator for the Correction Department.

" 'I killed the child molester. He won't touch any more kids,' " Hammond said Druce boasted.