Convicted rapist seeks parole despite DNA results

By Theo Emery, Associated Press, 6/12/2003

BOSTON (AP) A convicted rapist who has infuriated the victim's family with a tireless campaign to clear his name returned to the Massachusetts Parole Board Thursday to ask for his freedom.

Throughout Benjamin LaGuer's three-hour parole hearing, he continued to insist he did not commit a brutal rape in 1983, though his appeals have been unsuccessful and DNA tests last year tied him to the crime.

''In these 20 years, I have tried to make something of my life,'' LaGuer said. ''I can assure you that I do not put head to pillow on any night for almost 20 years now that I have not thought about the events in question.''

His two previous attempts at parole have been denied. After hearing arguments from prosecutors, LaGuer, and the victim's daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, the board took the matter under advisement and will decide later whether to recommend parole.

LaGuer has earned a somewhat unique place among Massachusetts prisoners because of his efforts to clear his name.

His work from behind prison walls has earned him ardent supporters, including Boston University President John Silber, who testified Thursday on his behalf, as well as noted linguist Noam Chomsky and novelist William Styron. LaGuer earned an undergraduate degree from BU while behind bars, and says he hopes to attend the school's graduate creative writing program if released.

''Mr. LaGuer has never questioned the terrible, tragic, horrendous and outrageous nature of the crime that was perpetrated on the victim,'' Silber told the board. ''His claim has simply been that he was not the perpetrator of that crime.''

But LaGuer's public relations efforts have angered family of the victim, who has since died, as well as some members of the Parole Board.

John Kivlan, a board member who sparred with LaGuer earlier in the hearing, also criticized Silber for his recent claims that prosecutors mishandled evidence.

''I think it's unfortunate that you should lend the prestige of your position and your university to making such a reckless statement,'' Kivlan said. ''I think that's a very serious allegation.''

''Mr. Conte can sue me if he wants to,'' Silber replied, referring to Worcester District Attorney John Conte, whose office prosecuted the rape charge.

Robert Barry, the son-in-law of the victim, said LaGuer has concocted stories, sidestepped questions, and manipulated the media whenever possible, and ''has spun himself into an area of public relations that I would never expect.''

''We are truly shocked and dismayed at the amount of attention given to this man, especially after the positive DNA results last year. Mr. LaGuer has made a choice in his life to try his luck at getting released from prison by using the media,'' he said.

On July 12, 1983, a man broke into the apartment of LaGuer's Leominster neighbor, raped and beat her for more than eight hours, and left her trussed with a telephone cord.

The woman told police she had been raped by a man with dark skin, leading police to LaGuer, who had returned to live with his father after being discharged from the Army for being caught with drugs.

An all-white jury convicted LaGuer, a light-skinned black Hispanic man, in February 1984, after he turned down a plea deal offering an 18-month prison term in exchange for a guilty plea. He was sentenced to 15 years to life.

From behind bars, LaGuer's letters have earned support and encouragement from Silber and other high-profile figures. On Thursday, Leslie Epstein, head of BU's creative writing program and father of Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, read some of Styron's supportive words and added his own, though he didn't say if he believes LaGuer is innocent or guilty.

''He has grown as a person through his incarceration in a way he never could have without it,'' he said. ''I'm convinced that Benjamin LaGuer has a good deal to give to society.''

LaGuer has appealed several times, arguing he was not adequately represented and that racism tainted the jury. His conviction has stood each time.

He recently claimed that DNA tests would clear his name. Instead, the DNA on the evidence matched LaGuer.

Still, he has maintained his innocence, claiming his DNA was mixed perhaps deliberately with the rapist's.

His attorney, Boston-based lawyer James C. Rehnquist son of the U.S. Supreme Court justice said he expects to file a motion for a new trial. He declined to discuss the details.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Reilly, representing Conte's office, said LaGuer's claims of tainted evidence are ''prevarications and lies.''

''What he should do, and the honorable thing for him to do, would be to admit,'' said Reilly. ''Unfortunately, he has so many supporters he can't.''

The Parole Board repeatedly asked LaGuer why he tainted evidence for a lab test of his blood type by mixing another inmate's saliva with his own. Board members also questioned him on why he posed as a Catholic priest and called the victim at her nursing home after his conviction. LaGuer said has said he regretted both actions.

Board member Doris A. Dottridge told LaGuer, ''It seems like you have a story for everything.''

''This whole thing has become like a three-ring circus. It's like a show,'' she said. ''This is not a show. It may be for you, but there are people here who are torn up about what happened to their relative.''