Patrick says he gave money to aid convict

Deval L. Patrick, who a week ago said his ``sole involvement" in the campaign to free a convicted rapist was a letter he wrote more than a decade ago, acknowledged last night that he made a financial contribution in 2001 to help pay for a DNA test the inmate hoped would free him from prison.

The disclosure is the latest evidence that the Democratic nominee for governor was more deeply involved in the controversial effort to free Benjamin LaGuer than his statements to reporters indicated.

Last night, after inquiries from the Globe, Patrick's campaign released a letter thanking Patrick for his ``generous contribution" to help pay for the test. It was written by David Siegel, LaGuer's lawyer at the time and a professor at the New England School of Law.

Earlier yesterday, Patrick said he had ``absolutely no memory" of contributing to the effort.

But late last night, an aide to Patrick said that after reviewing the thank-you letter, it appeared that Patrick made the financial contribution.

``The evidence indicates that, yes, he did make a contribution to this thing," said Patrick's senior adviser, Doug Rubin.

Rubin said he does not know how much Patrick gave to the effort. LaGuer, in an interview earlier in the day with Globe columnist Adrian Walker, said Patrick had donated $5,000, but that could not be confirmed.

Asked why Patrick's description of his involvement has changed over the past week, Rubin said that Patrick at first did not recall the details of the case.

``It's something that Deval hadn't thought about very much in the past few years," Rubin said. ``When we first got questions, we tried to go back and put together the record. As we got information, we tried to make it available."

LaGuer, who was convicted of binding and raping a 59-year-old neighbor in Leominster for eight hours in 1983, is serving a life sentence at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. He has long maintained his innocence. Many lawyers, educators, and public officials have supported LaGuer, but the support dwindled after a 2002 DNA test linked him to the crime.

Rubin said last night that Patrick is continuing to review his records on the LaGuer case.

``Deval Patrick cannot locate any record of the donation," Rubin said in a statement faxed to The Boston Globe. ``We do have, however, a letter acknowledging a donation for the DNA test, the result of which is now part of the recent developments in this case which make Deval feel that Mr. LaGuer belongs in jail and that justice has been served."

Patrick, who has been under fire from Kerry Healey, the Republican candidate, for his positions on crime, initially sought to downplay his involvement in the LaGuer case. In a Sept. 28 statement, he said: ``My sole involvement in this case was more than 10 years ago, when I wrote a letter on Mr. LaGuer's behalf. At the time, there were serious unanswered issues concerning the facts and the fairness of the original trial.

In that same e-mail message, Patrick referred vaguely to the DNA testing. ``I understand that, in addition to other review, DNA testing was done in 2002," he said. ``On the basis of my review, I believe that the right outcome has been achieved and that justice has been served."

That same day, according to the Associated Press, Patrick told reporters about LaGuer: ``I know who he is. He is someone on whose behalf I wrote I think maybe 15 years ago," along with others including the former Boston University president, John Silber.

Yesterday, the Globe reported that Patrick had written two letters to the state Parole Board, one of them six years ago, seeking LaGuer's release. Patrick also wrote two personal notes to LaGuer in prison, the Globe reported.

Healey, who has made law and order a focus of her campaign, stepped up her attacks on Patrick yesterday. She cited his advocacy on behalf of convicted felons as evidence that he is soft on crime.

Patrick's advocacy for LaGuer, she said, demonstrates a ``very stark difference between Deval Patrick and myself on the issue of criminal justice."

``I will always come down on the side of the victim and the victim's family," she said. ``I will not be looking out to release dangerous offenders into society prematurely."

Each candidate asserted yesterday that he or she has the stronger record on crime.

Healey appeared yesterday with about 30 police officers -- including the president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, John Coflesky -- while Patrick turned out with about 40 current and former prosecutors, sheriffs, and other professionals.

But Patrick spent much of his press conference defending his advocacy for LaGuer. ``I don't think it was a mistake," Patrick said.

Patrick also said, ``I am proud of what I did." Asked whether he would still advocate on LaGuer's behalf, ``knowing what you know now," he replied in the affirmative.

Patrick did not elaborate. Later, an aide explained that Patrick would advocate for LaGuer again because he may not have received a fair trial.

LaGuer, Patrick said, had raised ``serious issues" alleging that racism may have been a factor in the jury's decision to convict.

Last week, Patrick dropped his support after he said he had reviewed the case.

Healey campaign workers attended Patrick's press conference, handing out a news release pointing out Patrick's ties to LaGuer.

The release, titled ``Dear Ben. Best Regards, Deval," drew a sharp response from Patrick.

``I haven't lived my life or run my career trying to make sure there isn't some opportunity for somebody in some campaign . . . to take a cheap political shot," he said. ``Let me just say . . . as much as I respect the lieutenant governor, that is a cheap political shot."

Patrick's campaign, which at one point yesterday accused Healey of ``predictable politics as usual," issued a press release citing the letter that the GOP's lieutenant governor candidate, Reed Hillman, wrote in 2000 to clear the record of James W. Mitchell, a friend convicted of three drunken driving offenses.

Democrats also distributed material suggesting that Healey, in 2000, had overstated her background in criminology.

Meanwhile, Robert J. Barry, the son-in-law of the woman LaGuer beat and raped, said in an interview he would not vote for Patrick in November.

``I think [Patrick] is a decent guy, but he shouldn't be in political office," said Barry, whose mother-in-law was 59 when she was beaten and raped by LaGuer. ``He can't even keep his own timeline. . . . This was not just a rape case, but a severe rape of an elderly woman."

Healey is also attacking Patrick in a new ad over his successful argument to an appeals court in 1985 that halted the execution of a man convicted of murdering a Florida state trooper. Patrick argued that the man, Carl Ray Songer, was never given an opportunity to offer evidence of his good character and background. Songer is serving a life sentence.