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| Convicted Mass. Rapist Denied Parole |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/16/2003 |
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The Massachusetts Parole Board announced June 25 that it had denied Benjamin LaGuer's request after LaGuer appeared before the board about two weeks ago arguing that he is innocent of the 1983 rape that sent him to prison for 15 years to life. ''Despite his achievements relative to institution programming, Mr. LaGuer takes no responsibility for a rape which he was convicted for,'' the board wrote in a brief statement. ''Given the fact that this crime was an extremely violent and vicious rape of a victim over an eight hour period of time the Board is of the opinion that he is a risk to the community,'' The board singled out LaGuer's failure to attend a program designed to rehabilitate sexual offenders as a reason for denying parole. At the hearing, LaGuer said he was not eligible for the program because he would have to admit to a crime he denies having committed. His two previous attempts at parole have also been denied. His supporters, including Boston University Chancellor John Silber, have called the board's insistence that he take the program a ''Catch-22'' because, they claim, it required an innocent man to confess. LaGuer's campaign to seek his freedom through high-profile public figures and the media has outraged the victim's family, who spoke out after his June 12 hearing decrying LaGuer as a fraud. Robert Barry, the son-in-law of the victim in LaGuer's case, did not immediately return a call seeking comment recently. An all-white jury convicted LaGuer in 1984 of breaking into the apartment of his father's neighbor in Leominster, raping and beating her for more than eight hours, and leaving her tied with a telephone cord. LaGuer has appealed several times, arguing that he was not adequately represented and that racism tainted the jury. His conviction has stood each time. He and his attorney say they intend to seek a new trial a third time. He recently claimed that DNA tests on evidence would clear his name. Instead, the DNA on the evidence tied LaGuer more closely to the crime. |
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