Shanley attorney prepares for trial

An attorney for the Reverend Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal, asked for additional documents from prosecutors on Wednesday to prepare for Shanley's rape trial. During a brief appearance in Middlesex County superior court, attorney Frank Mondano told clerk magistrate Lucille M. Pasquale that prosecutors had turned over the wrong records and had failed to turn over others that he needs to prepare the defense. Shanley has pleaded innocent to 10 counts of rape and is free on bail. No trial date has been set. Shanley, a retired priest, was once known for his street ministry to gay and troubled youth. After he was arrested, it was revealed that he had helped run a resort catering to gay men in Palm Springs, Calif., for several years in the early 1990s. Shanley is charged with raping boys in the Boston suburb of Newton in the 1980s. Internal church records disclosed in lawsuits show that officials did not remove Shanley from parish work even after they received reports that he had publicly endorsed sex between men and boys and had attended a meeting of the North American Man-Boy Love Association. While about 95% of 552 alleged abuse victims who sued the archdiocese have accepted an $85 million settlement offer from the church, a few of Shanley's accusers are refusing to sign onto the deal. Instead, they have decided to continue action in the courts, where they hope to prove that Shanley abused them while church leaders ignored their allegations and tried to cover up the scandal.