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| Murderer Had Sex Change Operation, Asks to Go to Women's Prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/21/2002 |
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A man who admitted to murdering his sister had a sex-change operation 33 years ago and wants to be sent to the New Hampshire prison for women. Joseph Shanley, 66, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the death of Ann Cavanaugh, 68. Cavanaugh was found shot five times in their Claremont home on Oct. 4, 2001. Under the plea agreement, Shanley could be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison. But just before agreeing to the plea bargain, Shanley filed a motion in Sullivan County Superior Court asking a judge to rule that he is a woman and should be sentenced to the women's prison. Currently, he is being held alone in the special housing unit of the men's prison in Concord. Shanley's motion and the state's objections to it were sealed, pending a hearing scheduled for October 4. However, Judge Robert Morrill postponed the hearing until Shanley's sentencing Oct. 22. The documents were released recently, The Union Leader reported. According to the motion, Shanley now calls himself ''Jo'' Shanley. At ''a very young age he was convinced he was a girl and that nature had made a mistake in giving her the outward appearance of a boy,'' the motion says. ''She was later inspired by the story of (transsexual) Christine Jorgensen to take steps to alleviate the anguish caused by her gender dysphoria,'' the motion says. Shanley went to Casablanca in 1969 for sexual reassignment surgery. Afterward, he continued dressing as a man and working as a machinist to keep his job and income, but dressed and acted as a woman outside work, the motion says. Shanley has been examined by a doctor and found to have the genitals of a woman, the motion says. He asked to be placed in a women's prison for safety reasons as well as because of his perceived gender. Prosecutors have objected, arguing the state Department of Corrections not a judge has the authority to decide where prisoners are housed. |
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