NH Detective James McLaughlin on a List of Dishonest Police

                   

For 28 years Fr. Gordon MacRae said that NH Detective James McLaughlin falsified police reports. It turns out that he has been on a secret list for doing just that.

Attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld have long asserted that police and prosecutor misconduct played a significant role in the spate of wrongful convictions that have badly stained our justice system.  It seems that not a week goes by without a media story about a man or woman exonerated and released after being wrongly imprisoned for years or decades.  At his acclaimed blog from prison, Father Gordon MacRae recently analyzed one such heart-wrenching account in "For the Lovely Bones Author Alice Sebold, Justice Hurts."

According to Scheck and Neufeld, "in 64-percent of exonerations analyzed by the Innocence Project, professional misconduct by police or prosecutors played an important role in convictions.  Lies, cheating, distortions at the lower levels of the system are excused at higher ones" (Actual Innocence, p. 225).  A focus on policing in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has made police misconduct a lot harder to ignore. This is not about a bias against police. No one is more offended by a bad cop than a good cop. The vast majority represent their profession with both honor and honesty.  But one did not.

Over 28 years of wrongful imprisonment at the New Hampshire State Prison, Fr. Gordon McRae has consistently asserted that the case against him was built on lies, cheating and distortion on the part of accusers aided and abetted by a dishonest police officer.  Just as Barry Scheck predicted, those assertions have been ignored or explained away at higher levels of the justice system by judges with a clear bias in favor of police and against defendants - and this defendant in particular.

The last judge to preside over a Habeas Corpus petition to review new evidence and witnesses in the MacRae case allowed errors that I wrote about in "A Grievous Error in Judge Joseph Laplante's Court." That judge, like too many others, was a career prosecutor before his appointment to the federal bench.  He was honored by New Hampshire Magazine in 2003 as "New Hampshire's Top Prosecutor."

In addition to the new evidence and witnesses that this judge declined to hear, much of Father Mac Rae's Habeas Petition that came before his court was about Keene, New Hampshire sex crimes Detective James McLaughlin and the shady tactics he employed to investigate, prosecute and convict MacRae in 1994.

Now it turns out that Detective McLaughlin was sanctioned for "falsification of records" in 1985, nine years before MacRae's trial.  Under a U.S. Supreme court precedent, prosecutors were obligated to reveal that fact to Defendant MacRae and his legal counsel.  They did not.  This is especially egregious because a central issue in this case has been the falsification of police reports and witness tampering. You might think that this priest wrongly imprisoned for the last 28 years should not be the one to write about this because he has a liberty interest.  There has been no one so severely impacted by this story than MacRae himself, and he exposed it brilliantly in a recent post at Beyond These Stone Walls. If you care at all for the integrity of justice in America, read and share this riveting post by Fr. Gordon MacRae  "Predator Police:  The New Hampshire Laurie List Bombshell"

I have also composed a follow-up article on this troubling matter entitled "Police Misconduct:  A Crusader Cop Destroys a Catholic Priest"

      

The Testimony Judge Joseph Laplante Has Not Heard

 The Testimony Judge Joseph Laplante Has Not Heard

                   By Ryan A. MacDonald

Video documentary testimony of Rev. Gordon MacRae is a compelling challenge to the standard Catholic abuse narrative.  Is that why it went missing for seven years?


As long time readers know, I have written about the story of abuse in the Catholic Church and priesthood from multiple angles.  Some of those who present themselves as authority sources for this story are charlatans with agendas of their own.

Sites such as Bishop Accountability and the beleaguered and widely discredited SNAP, the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, have counted on their audiences to both share their agendas and to not look too closely at their lurid accounts.  I find that those who still routinely cite them as authorities generally share their obvious agenda to disrupt the Catholic Church, weaken its voice, and demolish its priesthood.

The story I and others have followed most closely is that of Father Gordon MacRae, a priest approaching his 25th year in prison when he could have been out in one year had he actually been guilty or willing to pretend so. I find most compelling the bravery necessary to stand by the truth in the face of such personal cost.  Others, however, still stick to their narrative.  For example, I just received this from a comment posted at the conservative site, Church Militant:


     "MacRae is in prison where he belongs.  Take a look some day at the long list of this               creep's crimes at bishop-accountability. Notice that he confessed to several indiscretions of the sodomic (sic) variety.  If he lied about those incidents when he confessed to authorities, then he could.easily be lying now to credulous people like you..."

As is usual, the writer of this twisted take on things gets to put it out there without taking any responsibility for it by  publishing his name.  Father Gordon MacRae, on the other hand, has courageously posted under his own name from prison for the last ten years in the face of vitriol from those with the worse combination of human traits:  closed minds and open mouths.

I  and others have written extensively about the corrupt bias and agendas of the site the above writer refers to. (See https://araminthethicket.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-fr-gordon-macrae-case-whack-mole.html and follow the links to related articles).  A problem with the Bishop-Accountability site is that it plays the "every one's a victim" card by redacting all names of accusers so that readers never know who it is they are reading about.

In "A Priest's Story" Parts I and II, The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote the same story, but independently investigated it.  She named the accusers, thoroughly debunked their claims, and demonstrated the fact that most were "serial accusers" having made identical claims against multiple others in attempts to squeeze money out of the accused.

She uncovered the story of one such "victim," a man who has since recanted his entire set of accusations against MacRae while Bishop-Accountability has ignored his recantations.  He today says he was approached by a corrupt detective with a promise of money if he would concoct a claim against MacRae "as others had done." He states today that MacRae is entirely innocent.

This man who recanted is convinced that the others now in hiding - others he knew well as they all concocted their claims together - also created false stories with the enticement of money.  I should add here that Father MacRae took and conclusively passed multiple polygraph examinations in this case while his accusers remain unresponsive to requests that they now do the same.

In June of 2016 I wrote about "The Grievous Error in Judge Joseph Laplante's Court." Judge Laplante is a United States District Court Chief Justice.  In 2016 Father MacRae and his legal team brought a habeas corpus petition before Judge Laplante with an extensive, well-investigated, and well documented Memorandum of Law in support of Father MacRae's efforts to seek a new trial. As a hearing was held in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, the imprisoned priest was in his jail cell just a few miles away forbidden from being present.  Like State judges before him, Judge Laplante ultimately dismissed the appeal without allowing any testimony from Father MacRae or any of the named witnesses who were prepared to testify on his behalf.  The judge, a former prosecutor, seemed to lapse into his prosecutorial role by undermining witness testimony without actually even hearing it.

The most convincing testimony for MacRae's defense is in his own words.  The commenter cited above has not indicated whether he looked and listened, but I have listened extensively to newly released video documentary evidence in which this beleaguered priest got to do what he was prevented from doing at his trial, and at every effort for justice since.He spoke openly and candidly about his accusations and accusers, and it is both riveting and compelling.  Here is what he wrote about this video testimony at These Stone Walls:
 

   "All I am asking of the Church is simply to be heard.  As I approach the ominous 25-year mark in wrongful imprisonment, being heard feels almost as important to me as being free.  Almost! At my trial and sentencing 25 years ago, I was not permitted to utter a single word in my own defense.

      "At a flawed 1996 appeal represented by a public defender, I was not even allowed to be present. In three attempts at habeas corpus appeal at the state and federal levels, neither I nor any witness on my behalf was allowed to speak.  At no time since my 1994 trial has anyone heard a single  word from me.

     "Since then, all the pundits of both left and right have had their say.  SNAP has had its say, invited by the US Bishops to help shape the Dallas Charter.  SNAP demanded, and was given, the ruin of a filial relationship of trust between bishops and priests, transforming it into a model of servitude in which priests are summarily separated from their civil and canonical rights.

     "Voice of the Faithful has had its say, using 'The Scandal' toward its own ends to reshape the Church in its own image and likeness.  Bishop-Accountability has had its say, recklessly treating every lawsuit and decades old demand for money as 'proof' that condemns every priest to the dubious justice of 'guilty for being accused.'
    
     "The contingency lawyers have had their say, relentlessly brow beating Church officials into more than $3.5 billion in unquestioned financial settlements across America since the story emerged in the early 1990s.

     "And every step of the way for over twenty-five years, the news media, including the Catholic media, has aided and abetted this by both hyping stories of real abuse and suppressing stories of false witness and greed.

      "Now, after 25 years of silent endurance, it is my turn to speak."

+ + +

I for one am inclined to let him, and I suggest you do the same.  The video documentary testimony in Father Gordon MacRae's own words should not be missed.  And if you care at all for the Church and priesthood, that testimony should be widely shared.

You will find it at the ABOUT Page at These Stone Walls.  Just scroll to it.  The audio portion of Part I begins about 30 seconds into the tape.

And please share this post.

   

A Touch of Deja Vu: The Case against Rev. Gordon MacRae

by Ryan A. MacDonald



Whatever you think about the guilt of Catholic priests accused over the last two decades of the Church's sex abuse scandal, this short post may alter that view. I won't do your thinking for you or tell you what to conclude. Some things just speak for themselves. Pay a little attention to the details and look for common denominators, and then sometimes a light just goes on in your mind. This may be one of those times. Read the following citations from the story behind the story in the case against imprisoned New Hampshire priest, Father Gordon MacRae, then draw your own conclusions.

On the evening of November 14, 1988, a transcript of an episode of the "Geraldo Rivera" Show was faxed from its studio to the Keene, New Hampshire office of Detective James McLaughlin. The title of the show was "The Church's Sexual Watergate." I have a copy of the transcript indicating the date and origin of its transmission and a discovery number identifying it as part of Detective McLaughlin's "investigation" file. Here's an excerpt:

Source: "The Church's Sexual Watergate," Geraldo Live: 11/14/1988:

Geraldo: "What did the priest do to you, Greg?"

Greg Ridel: "Around the age of 12 or so, he and I went to a YMCA. And I was an altar boy at the time. And the first time I was ever touched, he began stroking my penis with his foot in a hot tub, I believe it was, at the YMCA. From there it went to what you might call role playing in the rectory where the priests live."

Shocking stuff! Jump ahead about a year and a half. Keene, NH Detective Jim McLaughlin has an interview with "Todd," a young man about to bring a lawsuit accusing a Catholic priest who was in the area several years earlier. Here's an excerpt of that police report:

Source: Case No. 90035705 Dated 06/06/1990, p. 006:
“Father [Stephen] Scruton was a regular at the YMCA.
Todd went to the YMCA with Father Scruton ••• When they did arrive they decided to use the hot tub. Todd showed me on
a diagram where he and Father Scruton were seated. At one point Father Scruton took one of his feet and placed it between
Todd's legs and rubbed his genitals ••• The touching was intentional and not a mistake. A rubbing motion was used by
Father Scruton ••• I asked Todd where he stood on civil lawsuits."

Now jump ahead another year and a half. Detective Jim McLaughlin has another interview with another young man from Keene about to file another lawsuit against another Catholic priest. Here's an excerpt of that police report:

Source: Case No. 93010850 Dated 08-27-1992 p.004:
"When Jonathan Grover was twelve or thirteen years of age he would spend nights in the Keene rectory . . . After racquetball
at the YMCA Father MacRae would have Jonathan Grover take a whirl pool with him and at times Father Scruton would join
them. It was during these times that Grover would be seated in the whirlpool and both Father MacRae and Father Scruton
would be joined in conversation and they would alternate in rubbing their foot (sic) against his genitals. Grover was unsure
if the priests were acting in concert or if they were unaware of each other's actions."

If the above three accounts were written by novelists, two of them would surely be accused of plagiarism. But that's not the only problem with that third account. Jonathan Grover was twenty-three years old when he sat in Detective McLaughlin's office allegedly relating this story. I write "allegedly" because, contrary to his own policies and protocols, the detective did not create a single audio or video recording of this or any interview in the entire MacRae case. We don't know who related what to whom.

What we do know, however, is that Father Gordon MacRae was never assigned to the Keene parish where these things were claimed to have happened until Jonathan Grover was fourteen years old. Father Scruton was never assigned to the Keene Parish until Grover was sixteen years old. Yet all three are there in that hot tub when Grover was twelve, just like the kid in the “Geraldo” transcript.

Strangely, another refutation of the third YMCA hot tub account above comes from “Todd,” the claimant in the second account. He revealed that at the times all these events were claimed to have occurred, he was a sixteen-year-old employee of the Keene YMCA, and says the YMCA’s strictly enforced rules would have barred Jonathan Grover from any use of the YMCA hot tub until he was sixteen years old.

In subsequent reports, Detective McLaughlin wrote of giving Grover a copy of Father MacRae’s resume “to help him with his dates.” Father Scruton was never mentioned again. By the time this case was over, Jonathan Grover had $195,000.00 in his pocket provided in settlement by the Diocese of Manchester with no corroboration of the account. When Father MacRae objected from his prison cell, he was simply dropped as a defendant giving him no standing to object.

The mysteries do not end there. About a year and a half after Detective McLaughlin wrote that third report describing a simultaneous sexual assault of Jonathan Grover by two priests, Fathers MacRae and Scruton, the detective responded to a question under oath:

Question: “Have you ever had a conversation with Rev. Stephen Scruton regarding Gordon MacRae? If so, please indicate
the date of the conversation(s) and provide a copy of your report(s) of the conversation(s).”

Answer: “On occasion, I have had conversations with Reverend Stephen Scruton, however I have no recollection of ever
discussing any actions of Gordon MacRae with the Reverend Scruton.”

The discrepancies in the above account of claims against Father Gordon MacRae are typical of this case. There's a lot left unexplained. One of MacRae's accusers, for example, was "an employee" of Detective McLaughlin "in a family-owned business" at the time he accused the priest. But a closer examination of the file reveals that this accuser never actually went to the detective at all. It was the other way around, and what served as probable cause for this detective launching a child sex abuse investigation was - are you ready for this? - a rumor that Father MacRae had once given the 15-year-old boy a ride home from school. According to the detective’s 1988 report, this alone “pointed to possible pedophilic activity on the part of MacRae.”

Armed with his suspicion, the detective interviewed twenty- six present and former teenaged acquaintances of the priest.
Not one would accuse him. Then, finally, the detective interviewed Jon Plankey, his employee, who supplied what the detective wanted. First, he claimed, MacRae had attempted to solicit 15-year-old Plankey for sex. Then, months later, he added that MacRae also took lewd photographs of him.

The photographs were never found. The photographs were never even looked for. Nothing in the case file indicates that the detective did anything at all to corroborate or refute the young man's claims about photos. Questioned a dozen years later by a Wall Street Journal reporter, however, the detective admitted, "there was never any evidence of child pornography."

The detective's police report omitted a few other important details as well. Before accusing Father MacRae, Jon Plankey also accused a county employee of soliciting him for sex. Then he accused a Congregational church choir director of soliciting him for sex and taking lewd photographs of him. Then he accused another man of soliciting him for sex.

He finally hit pay dirt, however, when he accused a Catholic priest. Jon Plankey has repeatedly declined to be interviewed or to answer any questions about this case, but his brother seemed eager to talk. He says the entire Plankey claim was a fraud brought for settlement money.

The above accounts are not the only such stories defying credibility in the case against Father Gordon MacRae. There are other accounts with even bigger holes than the above. Most alarming has been the role of the New Hampshire news media and victim advocacy groups like BishopAccountability. The above discrepancies have been hiding in plain sight for years, but New Hampshire seems not to have any news venue with the means or the will to investigate beyond what is fed to them by police and prosecutors.

The people at BishopAccountability have been quick to post on their website all the dirt they could find about Father Gordon MacRae. However, they have been entirely unresponsive to my repeated requests that they also publish reports I have investigated and researched - reports that directly refute information BishopAccountability staff has previously published without any attempt at corroboration. In other words, these victim "advocates" have the story they want. Nothing else is necessary.

For more information on the troubling case against Father Gordon MacRae, I invite you to read the following links:
"Should the Case Against Father Gordon MacRae be Reviewed?"
"Truth in Justice: Was the Wrong Catholic Priest Sent to Prison?"
"How Psychotherapists Helped Send An Innocent Priest to Prison."
"To Azazel: Father Gordon MacRae and the Gospel of Mercy."