Abuse Tracker

MASSACHUSETTS
Cape Cod Times

AMANDA LEHMERT
STAFF WRITER
Nine years after he was committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous, a state review board still considered convicted child rapist Paul R. Nolin Jr. a threat to society.

Three months later, with four psychologists testifying on his behalf, a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled Nolin was no longer "sexually dangerous," a key change in status that led to his transfer to state prison and eventual release.

Judge Charles M. Grabau changed Nolin's status in 1995 despite testimony by Dr. Nancy Connolly, a psychologist and chairwoman of the board at the treatment center, who said his "attendance and level of participation in his therapy was exaggerated by his treatment team."

In recently released court documents, Connolly, the state's sole witness in the 1995 case, stated "Nolin needed a greater understanding of the relationship between the violence he had exhibited when he committed the underlying crimes and pedophilia." ...

Donald Turlick, a retired priest and former therapist at the treatment center, said he helped Nolin address "issues relevant to Mr. Nolin's eventual return to the community and would continue to act in this capacity during Mr. Nolin's transition to the prison system and to the community."

Turlick, who was no longer serving Nolin in a clinical capacity, was classified as a "mentor" in court documents.

The testimony was convincing to Grabau, who ruled "the Commonwealth has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Nolin remains a sexually dangerous person."