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Silber talks to Dan Rea before hearing
ONE CONVICT'S DOGGEDNESS HAS MADE SILBER A BELIEVER
June 7, 2003
ByJenna Russell
John Silber, the hard-nosed chancellor of Boston University, is not known as a softie. But he plans to ask the state parole
board next week for the release of a BU graduate convicted of rape. Silber has corresponded with Benjamin La Guer since the
inmate studied for his bachelor's degree in BU's prison outreach program in the 1990s. And he put up more than $12,000 for
a DNA test that La Guer hoped - wrongly, it turned out ... Purchase article(1322 words)
John P. Kivlan called Silber "reckless"
SILBER ARGUES FOR CONVICTED RAPIST'S FREEDOM
June 13, 2003
By Nicholas Zamiska
In a contentious, four-hour parole hearing yesterday, Boston University Chancellor John Silber argued for the freedom
of convicted rapist Benjamin La Guer - and then came under fire himself from a board member for his "reckless" comments. La
Guer has served 20 years in prison for a 1983 beating and rape that he maintains he did not commit, although a recent DNA
test he requested linked him to the crime. "It boggles the mind to believe that if Benjamin La Guer had been... Purchase article(392 words)
PAROLE FOR RAPIST REJECTED DESPITE PLEA FROM SILBER
June 26, 2003 By Michael Rosenwald and Jenna Russell
The state's parole board has voted unanimously to deny parole to Benjamin La Guer, who has spent 20 years
in prison for a 1983 beating and rape he maintains he didn't commit despite a DNA test that linked him to the crime. The decision, made last week and delivered yesterday to La Guer, noted he has not taken responsibility for the crime
and has not attended "any programming to address the nature of this offense." Boston University Chancellor
John Silber, who had... Purchase article(277 words)
Mark Jurkowitz
SHOCK WAVES AND A TURNAROUND
By Mark Jurkowitz May 22, 2002
When writer John Strahinich got the news that DNA testing pointed to the guilt of Benjamin
La Guer, "I put the covers over my head, and for the next six hours, I just couldn't get out of bed."
Sean Flynn read the news online and said, "it was a good 10 minutes of being absolutely stunned, then frankly, it was kind
of heartbreaking." Strahinich, who started writing about La Guer for Boston magazine in the 1980s and
Flynn, who began covering the case for The... Purchase article(930 words)
They were convinced they were helping a wrongly convicted man, staking their
money, time, and reputations on his 19-year quest for justice. In their eyes, Benjamin LaGuer was an innocent man serving
a life sentence for someone else's crime. But now, the supporters of LaGuer - a black man convicted by an all-white Worcester
County jury of raping and beating his 59-year-old neighbor - must confront the stunning possibility that the convict conned
them. Last week, a coterie of renown... Read full text(1051 words)
For almost 20 years, convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer has waged a public campaign maintaining his innocence, focusing
most recently on securing DNA tests to prove he did not brutally attack an elderly woman. The DNA results are in, and LaGuer's
attempt to be freed from his life sentence through technology has backfired. The sperm recovered from the victim has been
identified as his. "It's not true; it's not true; it's not true; it's not true," LaGuer...
New DNA tests indicate that the blood on tissues found at a Leominster rape scene 19 years ago belongs to the victim
and not Benjamin LaGuer, who is serving a life sentence for the crime. Those findings and tests on semen found at the scene
could open the door for a second round of tests that could exonerate LaGuer, who has maintained that he is innocent. "It is
but one more finding in a case that feels more and more like something out of `Alice In Wonderland,' " said David...
A LIFER'S PROTESTS NOW COME TO LIGHT January 22, 2002
By David Arnold
GARDNER
- It was the kind of slushy December morning in 1986 that could not decide whether to rain or sleet over the North Central Correctional Institute. But no bother, quipped Benjamin LaGuer, who was serving a life sentence for
the brutal rape of an elderly, mentally ill woman, a crime he says he did not commit. Inside, it's another b-b-beautiful day at
the penitentiary!" he gushed with a stammer that echoed off the cinder-block walls. He was dressed in denim blues... (1627 words)
MORE EVIDENCE SOUGHT IN RAPE CASE APPEAL
December 12, 2001
By
David Arnold
After
receiving a fingerprint report that was never turned over during his trial 17 years ago, the lawyer for Benjamin LaGuer, who
claims he was wrongly convicted of raping an elderly woman, wants a judge to determine if any other evidence was withheld.
"This [fingerprint] evidence strongly suggests that LaGuer is innocent," said David Siegel, LaGuer's lawyer and a professor
at the New England School of Law. Siegel filed a motion yesterday asking Superior Court Judge Timothy... (624
words)
REASONABLE DOUBT, STILL
October 11, 2001
By
Adrian Walker
For Benjamin LaGuer, exoneration is one of those slippery words. Like innocent. Like freedom. For 19 years - half his
life - he has campaigned to clear his name on the rape conviction for which he is serving a life sentence at MCI-Norfolk.
Everyone in prison proclaims their innocence - but LaGuer may have a chance to prove his. After years of court battles, the
evidence that is central to his case is finally being tested. The results - while inconclusive so far - are casting doubt
on... (731 words)
THE EVIDENCE NEEDS REVIEW
April 9, 2001
By
Adrian Walker
Benjamin LaGuer spent last Tuesday afternoon in an all-too-familiar setting. He was in Worcester superior court, fighting
another round in his longstanding battle for freedom. In the course of 18 years behind bars, Laguer, 40, has become one of
the best-known guests of the Massachusetts prison system. He is serving a life sentence for the rape of a neighbor in Leominster
in 1983. He has never been linked to the physical evidence found at the crime scene. The victim, who... (672 words)
PAROLE PLEA MEETS SKEPTICISM\ BOARD MEMBERS ICY TOWARD MAN CONVICTED IN 1983 RAPE
April 6, 2000
ByJohn Ellement
Benjamin La Guer, whose supporters say did not rape a woman in 1983, yesterday was given a chilly reception by some
members of the state Parole Board, who must decide whether to release him from life imprisonment. "You're not unique," Daniel M. Dewey gruffly told La Guer, whose mother and other supporters
packed the crowded hearing room at the board's South Boston office. Dewey said other prisoners with long sentences have also
proclaimed their innocence.... (648 words)
CONVICT HOPEFUL OF WINNING FREEDOM
April
5, 2000
By
John Ellement
When Benjamin La Guer appears before the state Parole Board today, he will be guided by
advice former Boston University president John Silber gave him years ago: Don't shout, persuade. "That's all
I can do," LaGuer said in a telephone interview this week from state prison where he is serving a life sentence for raping
a 59-year-old woman in Leominster in 1983, a crime La Guer has steadfastly denied committing. "That is the watchword, and
that is what I have... (673 words)
MEMBER WHO USED SLURS QUITS PAROLE BOARD
July
21, 1999
By
Michael Crowley
A state Parole Board member whose use of racial slurs raised questions about the integrity of the panel has resigned
after the Cellucci administration concluded he should not remain in his job. Terence J. McArdle's resignation from the Parole Board comes more than eight months after he testified in a 1998 discrimination
suit that he had used the words "nigger" and "spic" while he was head of the New England office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and... (558 words)
Convicted rapist Benjamin La Guer, who was denied parole last year, filed suit in
Suffolk Superior Court yesterday seeking a new parole hearing and Disqualification of a parole board member who La Guer says
is racially biased against him. La Guer sued the board chairwoman, Sheila A. Hubbard, alleging that she should have pressed
for the disqualificiation of board member Terence J. McArdle because McArdle "has repeatedly used vicious racial and ethnic
slurs. McArdle, former head... (418 words)
FOR CONVICTED RAPIST, RACISM IS AGAIN AN ISSUE PAROLE BOARD MEMBER FACES QUESTION OF BIAS OVER
SLURS
December 24, 1998
By Patricia Nealon
Three years after he was convicted of a rape he swears he did not commit, Benjamin
La Guer glimpsed hope when an ailing member of the all-white jury that convicted him revealed that its deliberations had been
tinged with racism, including one juror who referred to La Guer as "a spic." But that wasn't enough to get him a new trial.
A judge denied his request in 1993, nine years after he was convicted of raping a 59-year-old neighbor in her Leominster apartment.
This… (965 words)
On
a typical day, Benjamin La Guer probably talks to more journalists than the White House press office does. By his own estimate,
he'll work the phones for about four hours, chatting with his friends in the media. More time is spent batting off letters
and notes to his pen pals at Time and The New Yorker. There are packets of material to send out. And in a leftover moment,
he may work on an article, manuscript or story idea. Benjamin La Guer does all this from a cell in the Massachusetts... (2218
words)
RAPE CASE APPEAL DENIED BY COURT
April 1, 1994
By
Tom Coakley
A
three-judge Appeals Court panel yesterday refused to grant a new trial to a black Hispanic man who tried to get his 1984 rape
conviction overturned when a juror in the case accused another juror of uttering racist statements. In a 2-1 decision, the
panel ruled that Worcester Superior Court Judge Robert V. Mulkern acted with ''thoroughness,'' ''patience'' and ''care'' in
rejecting the juror's charges of racism in the case of... (320 words)
EDITORIAL:
NEW TRIAL JUSTIFIED IN RAPE CASE March 24,
1994
When Benjamin Laguer was sentenced in 1984 to life in prison for raping
a Leominster neighbor, the jury ruled without a shred of physical evidence linking him to the crime. Later, the judge dismissed
allegations that racist remarks had been made by the jury after questioning only four of the 12 jurors, and despite one member's
affidavit asserting that explicit racial insults had been made. In mid-November, the Massachusetts Appeals Court heard arguments
for Laguer's right to a... (350 words)
In an unusual hearing,
a three-judge panel in the State Appeals court allowed arguments on whether racist statements reportedly uttered by a juror
during the rape trial of a black Puerto Rican should nullify that jury's verdict. The panel is expected to make a decision
in three months, which could result in a new trial given to Benjamin Laguer. He was convicted in 1984 of rape, robbery, breaking
and entering and assault and battery of a 59-year-old Leominster woman.
THE ISSUE OF RACISM IN A MASS. TRIAL October 31,
1993 By Robert A. Jordan
While the nation is still discussing the justice, or the injustice, of the
world-watched King and Denny verdicts, there is a much less-publicized case in Massachusetts that continues to leave unresolved
the question of whether racial prejudice was involved in the jury conviction of a Hispanic named Benjamin Laguer. On Nov.
15, a three-judge panel in the State Appeals Court will hear evidence of racial bias in the 1984 jury trial. Laguer's lawyer,
Patricia A. O'Neill, filed a motion... (1082 words)
SJC: SLUR BY JUROR
WOULD BE CRITICAL May 15, 1991 By David Arnold
In a ruling that could grant a man convicted of aggravated rape his freedom,
the Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that Benjamin Laguer deserves a new trial if allegations of racially prejudicial
remarks by a juror are found to be true. Benjamin Laguer, a black Hispanic, was convicted in Worcester Superior Court
in 1984 of rape, robbery, breaking and entering and assault and battery of an elderly woman. It now appears an eight-year
quest for freedom, argued in part by Laguer, a... (845 words)
CONVICTED RAPIST CLAIMS JUROR BIASED, SEEKS RELEASE January
9, 1991 By Alexander Reid
A Leominster man convicted in 1984 of a brutal sexual assault and robbery
is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to release him from prison because, according to an affidavit, a juror made racially
biased comments during deliberations by an all-white jury. Benjamin Laguer, 27, who is serving a sentence of life with parole
after 15 years, is Hispanic. Laguer was convicted of robbing, raping and beating a 59- year-old Leominster woman. According
to evidence at the trial, the attack occurred over... (657 words)
CONVICTED RAPIST SERVING LIFE TERM DENIED RETRIAL IN 5-YEAR BID TO GO FREE
June 3, 1989
By
David Arnold
A
convicted rapist who has fought five years for a new trial was denied that chance yesterday when a Worcester Superior Court
judge ruled the inmate was represented fairly by his defense attorney and the jury was not prejudicial. Benjamin La Guer,
25, is serving a life sentence at North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner for the 1984 eight-hour rape and assault
of a Leominster woman who was 59 years old at the time. Worcester Superior Court Judge Robert V. Mulkern stated in a... (557
words)
HEARING SET TO CONSIDER NEW TRIAL IN RAPE CASE
April 28, 1989
By
James B. Ayres
A
hearing on whether convicted rapist Benjamin La Guer of Leominster should get a new trial has been scheduled in two weeks
in Worcester Superior Court by Judge Robert V. Mulkern. The hearing will center on a tube sock found in the Leominster apartment
of the 59-year-old rape victim. Forensics tests indicated that the sock's wearer secreted type O blood. La Guer, 25, has type
B blood and one of his counsels, Harvard Law student Barry Berke, argued yesterday that "justice was not... (359
words)
A CONVICT ARGUES FOR HIS FREEDOM HAS FOUGHT 5 YEARS TO BE CLEARED OF RAPE
April 12, 1989
By
David Arnold
It
took members of a jury less than three hours in 1984 to convict Benjamin La Guer of a heinous rape and assault on a Leominster
woman and the next five years for La Guer to compile all the reasons the jury should have had reasonable doubt. Despite two
unsuccessful appeals and the district attorney's certainty that the right man was convicted, La Guer perseveres in a high-stakes
game in which legal specialists believe he has just played his best -- and last -- card. La Guer recently... (1190
words)
MAN GETS LIFE FOR
BEATING AND RAPE February 19, 1984 Associated Press
A 20-year-old Leominister man has been sentenced to life in prison after
being convicted of beating and raping a 59-year-old woman neighbor. Judge Robert Mulkern in Worcester Superior Court sentenced
Benjamin Laguer, terming his crime "one of the most vicious sexual assaults, particularly of a fragile and vulnerable person,
that I have ever seen. "By imposing this sentence, I hope to protect society." Laguer, convicted Jan. 30 on a charge of...
(221 words)
LEOMINSTER MAN CONVICTED OF RAPE-BEATING MARATHON February
1, 1984 Associated Press
A 20-year-old Leominster man faces a possible life prison term for an eight-hour marathon of rape, beating and robbery
against a woman in her Leominster apartment last summer. Sentencing of Benjamin Laguer was tentatively scheduled for Feb.
21 after a 12-man jury convicted Laguer of aggravated rape, assault and battery, breaking and entering and unarmed robbery.
The jurors deliberated just over three hours after a four-day trial before returning the verdict yesterday. (257 words)
LEOMINSTER MAN
IS HELD IN RAPE OF WOMAN, 59
July 17, 1983
Associated Press
A 20-year-old unemployed Leominster man will be back in court tomorrow on charges he tied up a 59-year-old woman, raped
her repeatedly for eight hours, then robbed her of jewelry and money, police said. Lt. Anthony Caissi said Benjamin Laguer
is charged with aggravated rape, assault and battery, unarmed robbery and breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent
to commit a felony. Laguer pleaded innocent to the charges Friday, Caissi said. Leominster District Court....(146 words)
