New Hampshire

Victims of the State

1 Case

Map of Counties

U.S. Cases

 

Location

Defendant(s)

Date of Alleged Crime

 

Cheshire County, NH Gordon MacRae 1983 (Keene)
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]