Psychologist uncertain about abusers
Ex-priest's defense cites flaws in field
TAUNTON -- A psychologist suggested yesterday that there is no valid way for mental health specialists to predict whether former Catholic priest James R. Porter will commit new sex crimes if he is released from the state prison where he has been since admitting to molesting dozens of children in the Fall River Diocese.
Appearing as a defense witness in Bristol Superior Court, Daniel Kriegman told Superior Court Judge David A. McLaughlin that the methods and theories used by psychiatrists and psychologists to predict the future behavior of sex offenders are flawed. He testified that one technique, which predicts future behavior based on a clinical examination of a sex offender, is no more accurate than tossing a coin.
McLaughlin must decide whether there is probable cause to believe that Porter is a "sexually dangerous person" who should be civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater for a period ranging from one day to life. If McLaughlin rules against Porter, a trial must be held before the designation becomes permanent.
Porter, 69, has essentially completed his prison sentence and, if released, would be on probation for 10 years. He was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison in 1993 after pleading guilty to 41 counts of sexual assault and other crimes. Prosecutors allege that Porter molested nearly 100 boys and girls in Massachusetts between 1960 and 1967 while working in the Fall River Diocese.
Porter was sent out of state, and during the next several years he molested children in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Minnesota, officials have said.
Porter's court-appointed defense attorney, Michael Farrington, is trying to convince McLaughlin that Porter is not currently dangerous. His second and final witness, another psychologist, is expected to testify today, rebutting prosecution specialists who have predicted that Porter will commit new crimes if freed.
Kriegman testified that widely published studies of sex offenders show that someone in his late-60s is unlikely to reoffend.
