In today’s Boston Globe, there is a column by Brian McGrory about Rev. Charles Murphy, a priest twice sued by attorney Mitchell Garabedian.
In 2006, Father Murphy was sued for improperly touching a minor, a girl who claimed the incident occurred 25 years prior. Father Murphy maintained his innocence, and on the eve of the trial, the woman dropped her suit.
In 2010, Father Murphy was sued by a man who alleged that he was fondled 40 years ago. The accuser, it turns out, was deep in debt and had his credibility questioned even by his family members. Father Murphy was exonerated after an archdiocesan review board took six months to examine the charges.
Father Murphy died last Saturday, a broken man. McGrory says that what Garabedian did is “a disgrace.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue called Garabedian today about this matter, and reports as follows:
I simply asked Mr. Garabedian if he has any regrets for pressing charges against Father Murphy, and he responded by screaming at the top of his lungs. Indeed, he went ballistic, bellowing how he lost his case because of the archdiocese’s “kangaroo court.” I asked him several times to calm down and to speak rationally, but instead he engaged in more boilerplate, making sweeping condemnations of Boston priests.
It is a sad day when a priest is falsely accused of sexual abuse. It is an even sadder day when it happens a second time. Sadder still is the scenario where a falsely accused priest goes to his deathbed suffering such indignations. It is worse than sad—it is obscene—when lawyers who lose in their bid to take down an innocent priest not only express no remorse, they behave like barbarians.
Contact Garabedian: (866) 345-2214, or e-mail him at mitchell@garabedianlaw.com
