BishopAccountability.org
	Prosecutors Still Considering Bid to Lock up Pedophile Priest By Denise Lavoie Associated Press, carried in Grand Forks Herald [Boston MA] January 3, 2005 BOSTON - Prosecutors are not prepared to immediately drop their bid to keep former priest James Porter locked up for the rest of his life, even though the notorious pedophile with a history of abuse allegations dating to the 1970s in Minnesota is hospitalized with incurable cancer. Bristol First Assistant District Attorney Renee Dupuis said Monday that prosecutors need to get an update from Porter's doctor before deciding whether he should still face trial on their petition to have him civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person. "There are plenty of people who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses that respond well to treatment, and we've prosecuted plenty of people who were 'terminally ill' and survived for years," Dupuis said Monday. "We are taking a very practical and thorough and conscientious approach to whether or not Mr. Porter is able to be tried," she said. Porter was at the center of a notorious child molestation case a decade ago. He was convicted in 1993 of molesting 28 children during the 1960s and 1970s while he was a priest in the Fall River Diocese. Porter completed 11 years in prison in January 2004, but has remained in custody while prosecutors seek to have him committed indefinitely. In April, a judge found enough evidence to hold a trial on a petition by Bristol District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. to have Porter committed as a sexually dangerous person. Six months later, Porter's lawyer, Michael Farrington, revealed that Porter has an aggressive form of soft tissue cancer and has been told by his doctors that he has months to live. Farrington asked a judge to suspend the commitment proceedings for six months. Prosecutors agreed to a two-month continuance. Dupuis said prosecutors plan to talk to Porter's doctor later this week to see how he has responded to treatment before deciding whether to press ahead with the case against him. But Farrington called on prosecutors to drop the case, saying Porter is "waiting to die" and is no longer a threat to anyone. Farrington said Porter is bedridden at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston, and is not expected to leave the hospital. "The guy is 70 years old, he's got a matter of weeks to live and he's being held because this DA is saying he's a danger to society. How ludicrous is that? It's just a joke. This is nothing more than a punishment. It's just vengeance." But Dupuis said prosecutors are merely being cautious. "We are going to get another update from the doctor about the defendant's condition and we'll reassess at that point," she said. Porter, who married and had four children after leaving the priesthood, also was convicted in Minnesota of molesting his children's teenage baby sitter. That conviction was overturned on appeal. Porter was forced to leave the priesthood in 1974, but only after church leaders shuffled him among several parishes where he continued to sexually abuse children. He later resettled in Minnesota, got married and had four children. In Bemidji, Minn., more than 20 allegations of sexual abuse have been made against him from when he worked there as a priest in 1969-70. One of the alleged victims testified that he was raped by Porter an average of four times a week while he was an altar boy at St. Phillip's Catholic School in Bemidji.
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