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Father Gordon MacRae, a Catholic priest, was convicted in 1994
of raping Thomas Grover. In the months prior to his 16th birthday, the then
much older Grover testified that he had five weekly meetings with MacRae to
discuss his problems and that he was raped at each meeting. When asked by
the defense for an explanation of why he would return for four subsequent
sessions after having been raped, Grover cried, apparently on cue, while
talking incoherently about having out-of-body experiences, and having
“repressed” the memory of being raped from week to week. A coaching
therapist was barred from the courtroom after she was observed signaling
Grover to cry, a complaint the jury never heard. At sentencing, Judge
Brennan cited MacRae's lack of remorse, his insistence on a trial, and his
refusal to take proffered plea deals. Brennan sentenced MacRae to five
consecutive prison terms for a total of 34 to 67 years. There is also a
background story about MacRae that includes previous attempts to incriminate
him using evidence completely lacking in credibility. Subsequent to
MacRae's conviction, Grover and others who made accusations against MacRae,
but whose claims were never prosecuted, each received a six-figure
settlement from the Diocese of Manchester. (www.gordonmacrae.net)
[6/09]
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