New Hampshire Judge Arthur Brennan sentenced this falsely accused Catholic priest to more than 30 times the plea deal he would have taken had he in fact been guilty.
In January, 2016, I wrote a post for These Stone Walls entitled, “American Crime Story: The People vs O.J. Simpson.” You can go read it if you want some deeper background, but to make a long story shorter, O.J. Simpson’s trial and mine were parallel dramas back in 1994.
O.J.’s trial extended a full year beyond mine and presented what Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti described as “a mountain of evidence” against O.J. Simpson charged with the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. After eleven full days of jury deliberation, Simpson was acquitted.
In contrast, my trial lasted one week and presented no evidence at all. It did not help that my bishop, and diocese, already deep into the settlement process, published a pre-trial press release that declared me guilty before I even set foot in any court. There was little left for a jury to do. I was convicted of all charges on September 23, 1994, after a jury deliberated for all of ninety minutes in a case brought twelve years after the fictitious crimes supposedly took place.
But what most TSW readers found surprising about parallels between these two trials was something that happened much later. Three years after the O.J. Simpson trial concluded, his chief prosecutor, former L.A. Assistant District Attorney Marcia Clark, tried to come to my defense. In late 1998, Ms. Clark wanted to profile my trial for an investigative report on wrongful convictions sponsored by FOX News. The production company, Mark Phillips Films & Television, wanted to interview me on camera at the New Hampshire State Prison.
The interviews were to culminate in a polygraph examination administered by a polygraph expert on national television. Having taken and conclusively passed two polygraph tests before my trial, I agreed to the proposal without hesitation. In 1998 Fox News proceeded to seek the necessary permissions for the interviews to take place. I requested that my accuser at trial also be asked to submit to the polygraph, but neither he nor his contingency lawyer would respond.
In the end, prison officials refused to allow these interviews. An attempt by FOX News to seek intervention from higher up the political ladder met with this reply from then Governor (now U.S. Senator D-NH) Jeanne Shaheen:
“I understand your company’s interest in an on-camera interview with Gordon MacRae, an inmate in the New Hampshire State Prison, but I will not interfere with the decision not to allow media access to Mr. MacRae.”
That was 1998. So why is this all coming up again now? Several years after his acquittal in the murder case, O.J. Simpson was charged and convicted in an unrelated case of armed robbery. After serving a prison sentence, O.J. was quietly granted parole in September 2017, and is now free.
But our stories seem destined to remain parallel dramas. On the same day that O.J. was paroled from prison, I had to do something that most readers of These Stone Walls will find to be perplexing, and maybe even appalling. It’s a complex matter that requires explanation before it will make any sense at all. I received notice from the New Hampshire Parole Board that I was scheduled for a parole hearing on September 21, 2017 – twenty-three years into my imprisonment – and I refused it.
THE EXTORTION OF PLEA DEAL JUSTICE
Here is what happened and why: As most readers know from our “ABOUT” page, I was sent to prison on September 23, 1994, after a trial with no evidence at all beyond the testimony of one man, Thomas Grover, with a long criminal record. Both his criminal record and the fact that he stood to gain $200,000 in settlement from the Diocese of Manchester were kept from the jury by Judge Arthur Brennan.
Having no evidence to review beyond the accusations themselves, the jury arrived at its verdict in ninety minutes after Judge Brennan instructed them that state law (NH RSA 632-A:6) requires no evidence or corroboration for a conviction in a case of rape or sexual abuse. The accusation is evidence enough to convict in a case that rests entirely on credibility. He also instructed the jury to “disregard inconsistencies in Mr. Grover’s testimony.” As Dorothy Rabinowitz later wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “they had much to disregard.”
It was also kept from the jury that on three occasions – twice before my trial and once during trial just after Grover’s testimony – I was presented with plea bargain offers by the two prosecutors in the case. Right up to the moment the jury began deliberation, I could have stopped the trial and entered a plea of guilty in exchange for one year in prison. A good deal if I were guilty, but if innocent, not so much.
I refused these plea bargain offers three times in succession. Each time it felt as though the weight of false witness was crushing me. In ‘The Trials of Father MacRae,” Dorothy Rabinowitz laid out pointedly the nature of this case and the perversion of justice I would have been admitting to had I accepted the plea bargain offers.
Thomas Grover testified that he came to me five times for counseling for his drug addiction in the months preceding his 16th birthday in 1983. He described being verbally assaulted, made to cry, and then forcibly raped in my highly visible rectory office during each of these sessions. He testified that each week he “repressed” the memory of these vicious assaults so that he returned from week to week not remembering that he was raped the week before.
Grover spoke vaguely of having out-of-body experiences that suppressed his memory of the assaults. Ryan MacDonald covered the scene of these fictitious crimes with photos in an article that had most readers shaking their heads in disbelief entitled, “Justice and a Priest’s Right of Defense in the Diocese of Manchester.”
Most Americans simply do not understand the injustice of this aspect of American justice. Over 90 percent of criminal cases end with plea bargains instead of trials. A guilty defendant would leap upon a plea deal like the ones presented to me, but an innocent defendant falsely accused of rape or sexual abuse just cannot fathom standing before a judge and saying that word – “guilty” – even if just one year later it will let him off the hook entirely.
Most people just don’t get it that plea bargains can result in the truly guilty spending far less time in prison than the truly innocent for the same charge.
WHY I HAD TO REFUSE PAROLE
Faced with these deals then, as now, the image that kept playing in my mind was that of Violet Amirault of Massachusetts. She and her adult son and daughter were the now notorious defendants in the infamous Fells Acres Day Care case. In what was later exposed as a classic Massachusetts witch hunt by Dorothy Rabinowitz and The Wall Street Journal, Violet, Gerald, and Cheryl Amirault were tried and convicted in a media-fueled early 1980s climate of hysteria over child sexual abuse.
This case was at the core of Dorothy Rabinowitz’s courageous, compelling, but truly haunting book, No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Time. I will never be able to forget that one shattering news footage scene of the elderly Violet Amirault, distraught and overcome as she was led to prison in chains. When asked by a reporter if the charges were true she sobbed loudly, “I NEVER did this’ I NEVER did this’ I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER did this!”
I believed her. I believe that every thinking, feeling, rational human being in Massachusetts who witnessed that scene believed her. Violet died of cancer in prison, eaten away from the inside because the Salem Witch Trials had found their ugly way back into a New England court of law. In response to the growing public realization that the Amirault trials were a travesty, politician-prosecutors like Martha Coakley and Scott Harshbarger doubled down on their efforts to silence the Amiraults and keep them in prison.
I thought of Violet Amirault and that scene – in fact, I thought of little else – when I refused the one-year plea deal during trial in 1994. I thought of her again 23 years later when I refused a parole hearing that required an inference that I did what I never, never, never did.
The parole hearing offered to me was meaningless, and simple math will explain why. After reprimanding me for refusing plea bargains and insisting upon a trial in 1994, Superior Court Judge Arthur Brennan imposed the maximum possible sentence and declared he would have imposed more if the law permitted it. He ridiculed the one priest who spoke out, stating his informed belief that the charges were false. “He tried to deceive this court,” Judge Brennan said.
Then the judge imposed one prison term of three-and-one-half to seven years to be followed by four prison terms of seven-and-one-half to fifteen years, all to be served consecutively. This was an aggregate total of 33 ½ to 67 years in prison.
This means that every seven-and-one-half years I am invited to appear before the New Hampshire Parole Board and present an inference that I am guilty, that I am remorseful, and that I will, when the time comes, enroll myself in a prison-based sexual offender program which requires an open admission of guilt and the cessation of any effort to challenge a conviction or sentence. I could have done this 23 years ago when it would have had me released after just one year. But I am not guilty, and I cannot do this. Not now! Not ever!
As for the prison sex offender treatment requirement, I would not even be eligible for it until two years before the end of my last aggregate sentence in the year 2032. I would be 79 years of age recalling and addressing the lurid details of offenses claimed to have happened when I was 29, but in reality never happened at all. Does any of this make any sense to anyone?
In November 2017, Thomas Grover, the sole accuser at my 1994 trial, will be 50 years old. This man and three of his brothers who also accused me and obtained settlements were victims of nothing more than their own greed. They perpetrated the crime of fraud and the sin of false witness from behind the shield of a Catholic sex abuse moral panic.
PROSECUTORIAL JUDGES
What Judge Arthur Brennan and prosecutors did to me, however, is what advocates for a more sane and just criminal justice system call a “trial penalty.” To entice the guilty into lenient plea deals that bolster conviction records, the justice system threatens astronomical sentences if a defendant balks at the deal.
Judges have some discretion, however, for defendants with no prior felony record. Judges can impose harsh sentences concurrently instead of consecutively. Judge Brennan had that option, but ignored it. Had he opted for a concurrent sentence, I would have left prison without having to admit guilt after fifteen years. If his sentence stands, I will be 108 years old upon completion at a cost to the taxpayers of New Hampshire in excess of $2.4 million.
The entire justice system has grown oblivious to the fact that innocent defendants do exist and often cannot fathom accepting a plea bargain. The guilty readily can, but many prosecutors and judges never even consider that there is such a thing as an innocent defendant falsely accused.
In 2015, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed column by Lucian E. Dervan entitled, “The Injustice of the Plea Bargain System” (Dec 4, 2015). The author wrote, “It is common for sentences after trial to be far more severe than those offered to induce guilty pleas.” The author called this the “trial penalty,” a grave injustice when inflicted on innocent defendants.
In the WSJ “Letters to the Editor” column (Dec 16, 2015), the op-ed drew some sharp criticism from prosecutors and judges Spenser Lawton, Jr. of Savannah, Georgia identified himself as a “retired career prosecutor.” His published letter defended the practice and effectiveness of plea bargains:
“The whole idea is that the sentence on a plea deal will be less severe than the one risked at trial. That’s called an incentive without which the option would be meaningless. What Mr. Dervan calls the ‘trial penalty’ might better be called the ‘plea benefit’.”
It is distressing that this former prosecutor’s defense of the plea bargain system seems to reveal no awareness that a defendant might actually be innocent. However, the far more disturbing rebuttal was this one from Larry Stirling of San Diego, a retired California Superior Court judge:
“The high conviction rate via plea bargaining results from the fact that the offer is a good deal for the defendants or they wouldn’t take them. They might be criminals, but they aren’t all dumb.”
This former judge evidences a cynical denial that a defendant standing before his court might be innocent. Instead of facing a prosecutor and a judge, defendants before Judge Larry Stirling seem to have been facing two prosecutors.
Former prosecutors are far too highly represented among the ranks of criminal court judges. In fact, a judicial nominee in New Hampshire was denied confirmation two years ago for the stated reason that he once served as a public defender. The judge who denied my last appeal while refusing any hearing on evidence or testimony was a career federal prosecutor.
With all due respect to Judge Larry Stirling, I am not a criminal and I am certainly not ‘dumb.” But the plea bargain presented to me 23 years ago was not a good deal at all. There was just one problem with it, and I owe a debt to the memory of Mrs. Violet Amirault, a martyr for truth, who voiced it for me:
“I NEVER did this! I NEVER did this!
I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER did this!”
Editor’s Note: Arm yourself with the whole truth of this story with these posts by Ryan A. MacDonald:
- The Trial of Father MacRae A Conspiracy of Fraud
- The Prison of Father MacRae A Conspiracy of Silence
- The Post-Trial Extortion of Father Gordon MacRae
- A Grievous Error in Judge Joseph Laplante’s Court
Karen says
December 28, 2017 at 9:43 PMDear Father G., your travesty of justice and my own limited experience lead me to call it the “legal system”. I refuse to call it the “justice system”. So very often justice seem to have very little to do with it. Thank you for your witness under horrible conditions, and I do pray for you and others in your situation.
Schmoe says
December 27, 2017 at 9:35 PMre: Stirling
Anyone who has ever contested a parking ticket knows firsthand that prosecutors are competing zealously for the rank of Lowest Form of Life.
Let them save themselves.
schmoe says
December 1, 2017 at 12:23 AMfwiw: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/spanish-priest-reinstated-after-false-accusations-exposed
Larry Stirling says
November 16, 2017 at 1:55 AMI am not sure why this fellow decided diss me for an accurate quotation in the Wall Street Journal.
His story is full of holes.
Most notably his being convicted in a trial without any evidence.
Balderdash.
After claiming there was no evidence, he then describes that there was testimony by a witness but then says that the judge would not allow information about the witness’ bias.
More balderdash.
Incentives to lie are relevant to the witnesses credibility and therefore admissable.
Failure to admit such is reversible error.
Cons are not called “cons” for no reason.
If he took a plea bargain, he did so because he thought it was the right thing for him.
His decision.
But his story reeks of balogna.
Larry Stirling
Retired Superior Court Judge
Father Gordon J. MacRae says
November 16, 2017 at 3:19 PMMr. Stirling is the retired California Superior Court Judge who is quoted in my post from his published letter in The Wall Street Journal. He is the former judge whose opinion for why people accept plea deals is “They might be criminals, but they are not all dumb.” I could say a lot more about his comment, but I think you get the picture. This is what happens when prosecutors, and only prosecutors, become judges. With blessings, Father Gordon MacRae.
Michael says
November 17, 2017 at 3:02 PMMr. Stirling,
You said, “If he took a plea bargain, he did so because he thought it was the right thing for him.”
Mr. Stirling, it would follow that if Father Gordon Macrae did *not* take a plea bargain, it was also because he thought it was the right thing for him. So please ask yourself why he did not take it. Ask yourself why he thought it was the right thing to continually deny himself the opportunity to walk out of prison when the only thing required was an admission of guilt. As it is, he will be 108 years old when he walks out of prison. Ask yourself why a man would be this unyielding.
Mr. Stirling, you also said, “Incentives to lie are relevant to the witnesses credibility and therefore admissable.”
Ask yourself who had more incentive to lie: a fellow priest who risked scorn to testify when even Father Macrae’s bishop denounced him prior to trial, or a man who stood to gain $200,000 by accusing him? The fact that this monetary settlement was kept from the jury is not in dispute. It is a fact. Why was this not admissible?
Is there no possibility, in your view, in which the prospect of $200,000 could induce a man to make a false claim against a priest?
Father Gordon J. MacRae says
November 17, 2017 at 3:48 PMThank you for this astute rebuttal Michael. You understand the points exactly and made them very well. The Judge Stirlings of the justice system seem more interested in protecting their broken system than in ascertaining justice. As Father Richard John Neuhaus wrote in First Things, “This case represents a Church and a justice system that seem indifferent to justice.” With thanks and blessings, Father Gordon MacRae.
Kathleen Riney says
November 18, 2017 at 12:57 AMMr Sterling,
Your Opinions are exactly what I would expect from any member of the current “Justice System”. A System where Judges are appointed as/for, political favours…. A System where Intrinsic evil acts that violate the Natural Law are supported, & a Courtroom is the “Enforcer”. Lawyers have made a mockery of our Courts, & Judges have morphed into high paid assassins.
Your words speak for your character or Lack of….Judges & Lawyers with your expressed attitude have gutted the Courts & turned them into a tool, to destroy anyone who dares to call out the evil you support as a Right. G-D have Mercy on you, you’re on the losing side….& the evil one always devours his own, first
Ryan A. MacDonald says
November 18, 2017 at 1:27 PMAs someone who has written about this case, I try not to respond too much in the Comments Box. However, Judge Stirling has prompted the necessity of my weighing in this time. I could not help but wonder whether Mr. Stirling had actually read Father MacRae’s article. It seems that he Googled his own name and then read only the two paragraphs that were about him. So nothing that he has written is in context. Sadly, this is what I suspect of many criminal court judges today. They seem to make up their minds without actually reading the cases before them. Their bias shines through as it did throughout the trail of Father MacRae. Judge Stirling deludes himself into a trust level for his own system that it works as it should. Since he brought up evidence, I find little evidence of that. In his comment Judge Stirling has proven the very points that Father MacRae has made in this thought-provoking post. I should add that I have sent links to this post to a dozen legislators in New Hampshire who serve on the Criminal Justice and Judiciary Committees in that state. I also sent it to representatives of all the media in that state and to the members of the Governor’s Executive Council. Not one – NOT ONE – has even opened the link.
Father Stuart says
November 15, 2017 at 7:00 AMDear Fr Gordon
I just finished offering a sung votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament for you at the Cenacle in Jerusalem. On a pilgrimage here. Will send you a printed photo after I return to Canada on Saturday.
As ever,
Fr Stuart
Father George David Byers says
November 15, 2017 at 7:16 AMDear Father Stuart.
Thank you for offering Holy Mass for Father Gordon in the very room where the Last Supper was offered. That’s only about 1000 feet away from where Christ Jesus would be judged by Pontius Pilate the next morning. Jesus didn’t try to talk His way out of anything, and was condemned, the innocent for the guilty. As the Master so the disciple.
Father George David Byers
Fr. Tim Moyle says
November 2, 2017 at 4:08 PMFr. Gordon: Please know that we continue to offer a mass for your intentions every week here in parishes that I serve in rural Quebec (where Fr. RJN spent is summer vacations at his cottage) at the behest of Maria DeSouza. Our prayer for you is always the same: that you will receive justice in your life. May that day come soon.
Fr. Tim Moyle, p.p.
Parishes of the Upper Pontiac
Diocese of Pembroke
Michael says
October 31, 2017 at 8:20 PMI just glanced at the NH State Prison site. (https://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/facilities/concord.html) It says:
“The NH State Prison for Men is a multi-security level male-only facility with the capacity of 1,205.”
After that…
“July 1, 2017 population – 1,412”
Says it all. I know Fr has talked about overcrowding but just seeing the number so plainly put makes it hit home in a different way!
Ryan A. MacDonald says
November 2, 2017 at 2:44 PMActually, Michael, it is much more overcrowded than the numbers convey. If you search this title in quotes, “The Shawshank Redemption and It’s Real-World Version” you will find an article at Spero News by Father MacRae about overcrowding in his prison. When these buildings there were built they were intended for a certain maximum number of prisoners. In the place where Father M spent the last 23 years, there were eight men per cell but the cell was built for four. Even in the much better place where he is now, there are two per cell but the cells are 7 x 12 ft. and were built for one person. So what the prison is calling 100% is really 200% capacity. So that prison is now operating at about 240% capacity.
Carol Hall says
October 31, 2017 at 4:39 PMI agree 100% with Helen. You are a martyr to keep up your faith in God!! You are a great example of what it means to stand for the truth. Nobody would ever refuse a plea deal of guilty, but you did!! Every time I read your TSW’s , it reminds me to stick with the truth no matter what the cost.
You are in my prayers daily along with Max.
MaryJean Diemer says
October 29, 2017 at 1:00 PMHi Father Gordon!
We continue to pray that the truth will be allowed to be heard. You have done much for the reparation of sin for countless souls through your imprisonment and your evangelization of souls for God in that prison both on the inside and the outside. Despite the handicaps placed on you, God’s light shines through again and again! P
Prayers and love, Jeannie
Juan says
October 27, 2017 at 10:04 PMThank you, Father Gordon, for truly living out the Gospel, where one definition Jesus gives of Himself is that He is “the Truth” (John 14:6). You are a very inspiring living model in a world of so much deception. Neither have you been neglecting charity all along.
I wish to add, without intending to detract in the least from your appalling life story, that disguised lies, outright slander, horrific fraud and the like are common currency all over and in every walk of life as well.
You are very much present in our thoughts here in this family, where also continued prayers are said for you and your fellow mates.
Regards to Pornchai.
In union of prayers,
Juan.
malcolm harris says
October 27, 2017 at 12:32 AMI can’t help thinking that there was a much bigger game being played out… during the trial of Fr. Gordon. It was imperative, because of some hidden agenda, that a Catholic priest be convicted and sent to prison. What do I mean? Well… the settlements paid out to the Grover brothers (they got $200,000 each) was only a small part of the total payout. Which finally ran into many millions. Because of that well known ‘pile-on’ phenomenon. The lawyer’s cut is usually between 30% to 40%……..so we are talking really big bucks here?. This had to be about money…. just can’t think of any other reason…. which would have motivated such an extraordinary mockery of western justice.
Michael says
October 27, 2017 at 5:54 AMCould you tell me where I can find that info on the high payout? I’ve made it through plenty of the trial coverage but not everything and one piece of info is a needle in a haystack! Would be a cool link to refer others to.
Father Gordon J. MacRae says
October 27, 2017 at 11:01 PMMichael, I much appreciate your interest in this. Sadly, there is no single place where there is a link to the amount of money involved in payouts. It took me a long time to learn what these accusers received in settlement. The total paid to Thomas Grover and his three brothers was in excess of $650,000 and it was all paid over my strenuous objections. But there is a bigger picture here. These were part of blanket settlements paid to their lawyers who also brought simultaneous claims against many other priests – 62 of them – with mass settlements of well over $30 million dollars and no questions asked. I’ll find some sources for you on this. It does make for a shocking story.
With blessings and thanks,
Father Gordon MacRae
Maurice Faulds says
October 26, 2017 at 10:39 PMDear Fr Gordon,
You are in my prayers every morning before the Tabernacle
Maurice
Peter Haas says
October 26, 2017 at 10:38 AMDear Fr. MacRae –
It’s hard to believe that this could be happening in the United States! Sounds more like the Communist show trials.
I continue to pray for you.
Pete H.
TomD says
October 25, 2017 at 10:46 PMFr. Gordon, you know that I will pray again for you. Again and always.
Barbara Bowman says
October 25, 2017 at 8:08 PMDear Father Gordon,
Every morning you are in my prayers. God will be your vindicator and your sufferings will bear much fruit. Having followed your story for quite a few years, and hearing other stories of our injustice system, I’ve changed from someone who believed in it, to quite the cynic.
Those of us who’ve never been imprisoned can probably never understand the suffering that you and other innocent people are enduring. God has not abandoned you, but you know that. He has blessed you with Max, to share your burdens. Your writing blesses us with insight into the criminal justice system and into your heart. May St. Michael protect you.
Michael says
October 25, 2017 at 6:52 PMFather, this is heartbreaking. I will have Mass said for you and remember you at adoration. Dropped a letter for you in the mailbox, the mailman should pick it up tomorrow.
Edward . Fullerton says
October 25, 2017 at 6:37 PMFr Gordon , I too , along with many Will continue to pray for you& all clergy , religious , male and female , laity, the world , in the seven sorrows mystery.
Fr. Stuart MacDonald says
October 25, 2017 at 4:56 PMDear Father Gordon
This post is crushing to read. There is so much about your life that I can’t even begin to imagine, let alone understand. Just reading about the cruel irony of a parole hearing is numbing! Words simply fail, dearest Father. I can only continue to beg the Lord of all mercies to hear my daily plea for you in the Roman Canon. United in Him who is, and will ever be, our all in all,
Fr Stuart
Philip Nachazel says
October 25, 2017 at 3:25 PMFather.
God be with you.
You are the heroic Christian standing in the modern Coliseum, surrounded by beasts. The Cesar, A. Brennan, is ill. A sick individual.
I’m positive you have prayed for his soul more times than one could count.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46 comes to mind and heart as I reflect on your heroism.
God IS with you.
Peace dear Father.
Peace that surpasses all understanding.
Phil.
Militia Immaculata.
eamon1883 says
October 25, 2017 at 3:04 PMFather MacRae,
I will continue to pray for you. And I guess we have to pray for all involved in the case.
You continue to inspire because you keep showing your innocence and doing so in a
positive way.
Bill says
October 25, 2017 at 2:38 PMFather, as with many of your posts, this has been put on the Catholic Fundamentalism Facebook page. THANK YOU for writing it, and, more importantly, THANK YOU for being such a living beacon of truth.
Tom says
October 25, 2017 at 2:37 PMThis was a powerful post! I would have only added two things. First of all, I would have made the point that many defendants who take a plea are in fact not guilty of the crime, but also do not trust the system and figure “they will convict me anyway because the system is rigged, so I might as well cut my losses”. They feel that there is no way they will get a fair trial, especially the poor and people of color.
In addition, a little blame needs to go to the voters. They keep re-electing these “tough on crime” idiots out of fear and ignorance. The legislators that rejected a judicial nominee who had been a public defender should all be run out of office on the next election cycle and let it be known that the reason was their vote on that nominee. Until politicians see a downside to these ridiculous policies, the “tough on crime” lunacy will continue to roll. And its a shame that New Hampshire voters have rewarded two of the worst recent governors with senate seats. Of course if someone voices that opinion, he will be called a misogynist because they are both women!
I will post this on my Facebook page and keep on witnessing!
MaryO says
October 25, 2017 at 1:53 PMDear Father,
I am so, so sorry for the injustice visited upon you! Having said that, I must also say that, while I am sorry, I am also not at all surprised. As a public defender, I have seen many, many instances of innocent people faced with your dilemma. Unfortunately, (fortunately?), most of them are not the stuff of dry martyrdom, like you. They frequently yield and plead guilty to crimes that they have not committed.
I wonder if your readers think that your story is an isolated one? It is not. You were the victim of both lying witnesses and a Catholic priest witch hunt. Many others are simply the victims of lying witnesses. I hope that your readers remember that if they ever sit on a jury, or vote for a former prosecutor who now wants to be a judge or career politician.
Knowing all of this, I also know that all of us will someday face real justice, the kind that is tempered with mercy, but based upon truth. On that day, we should all tremble. But none should tremble more than the lying witnesses and complacent lawyers and judges.
Mrs. Jacklyn Kowal says
October 25, 2017 at 12:47 PMUnfortunately you were convicted unjustly & are paying the price for what others have done & have never been convicted. Jesus also was convicted unjustly & paid the steepest price of all. I believe there are many others like you who are suffering as you are, even tho innocent. And so many prosecutors & judges refuse to even give an innocent person who is in prison another chance at trial even tho DNA proves them innocent – I believe because they don’t want to the public to know they may have made a mistake – a BIG mistake. God bless you.
Dee Susan says
October 25, 2017 at 8:52 AMFather Gordon,
I agree with Helen (above). By your life situation and example, you are making many people think, opening eyes, and redefining honor. I never thought that an injustice like this could happen in our country! It was a frightening thing to see what happened to an innocent man. Surely it will be fixed, I thought. Surely now that he has broken the wall of silence and his story is ‘out there’. Then a new horrible realization hit! The corrupt people who did this are protecting themselves.
If your story had been written by a best selling author, it would have been rejected by the publisher as too absurd! Unbelievable! But we all know truth is stranger than fiction. God has your back. He is not fooled and you, Father, are on the front line in the fight for souls. God bless you.
Helen says
October 25, 2017 at 5:29 AMOh! Father Gordon! It gets harder and harder to read about the injustice served you.
I never, never, never get used to hearing that you are so ill-treated and so unfairly judged. NO ONE but a living Saint could possibly live thru this horrific ordeal. It takes the grace of God Himself to help you thru these years. Oddly, a story like this could possibly deliver a great lack of faith in those who believe in God. However, in your case, it does the opposite. You are actually building our faith. Proof positive: you are innocent! No one, who is guilty, could possibly live this.
I’m sure this doesn’t make things easier for you to accept. As I’ve previously mentioned, in a much earlier post, I have been on the receiving end of a very unjust civil court. It ate a hole in my heart, for years, because I know it was not fair or just.
When I first discovered you and your story, my experience seemed like a walk in the park, in comparison. To a very limited extent, I understand the heartbreak and shock that you are living. I only wish I could do something to bring about justice, aside from prayers and Masses. The feeling of helplessness is harsh but also, I believe God Himself is showing that, for sure; only He is in control. His ways are not ours. Maybe your horrific story is to show and help us learn that we need to be humbled. For me, I think this could be the reality.
Well, this isn’t helping at all. But believe me, Father Gordon, you are converting people with the suffering you are living. How pleasing it must be to God that you are a white martyr for the Creator.
God bless you and, as well as you can, be comforted in the fact that you are being prayed for, thought about, and loved.
Your friend,
Helen
PS: Hi to Max…prayers for him, too.
Ronald June says
October 25, 2017 at 1:55 AMThis one was a terribly hard post to read and it did moisten my eyes. I believe in your innocence, Fr. The injustice of it all is hard to take. You are very brave and must have a special charism from God to be able to endure this travesty of (in)justice. I remember the case of Mrs. Amerault and her family, although I was young and not really into it to have any or care to have any particular opinion of the case. I didn’t really know what happened to her until now and feel terrible about about her end. God bless you, Fr. and give strength.