Lambs to Slaughter

Jorge Soler's life after Doherty has followed a more tragic arc. He has accumulated a long rap sheet of drug offenses and currently awaits trial on charges of credit card and car theft. Soler says his attorney has negotiated a plea deal that would give him about five years in prison. A recovering crack cocaine and heroin addict, Soler says he's made progress in drug treatment; he's holding out hope for a program that would allow him a measure of freedom in exchange for drug screening

Does he think Doherty's religious faith was genuine?

Soler shakes his head. "That's a disguise," he says of the priestly garments Doherty wore. "He doesn't care about nothing. Going around raping little kids: That's his belief."

Two other alleged victims whose accounts were not included in public files are in jail too, one for grand theft and armed burglary and the other for murder.

For Sam, who once flashed his knife at the priest, the shame of having been raped by Doherty made him resolve to kill himself a few years ago. Until then, he had never told a soul about what happened, he says. But something prompted him to call a friend and tell her about Doherty's abuse. He said he planned to commit suicide. And for the first time in a decade, Sam wept.

His friend convinced Sam not to follow through, to live, if only to see Doherty receive justice. Today Sam is the one victim who appears in the criminal case Assistant State Attorney Dennis Siegel is building against the priest. A conviction could put Doherty, now 63, in prison for the rest of his life.

"It's pretty much retribution," says Sam, taking a drag on a cigarette. "There's no making it OK. I don't think if he was beaten in public and dragged naked through the streets so people could throw rocks at him it would be OK."

Yet seeing Doherty punished would make it just a little easier for him — and, Sam guesses, other victims — to get through the day.

Sam hasn't had a good night's sleep in ten years, he says. Doherty appears in his nightmares constantly. In dreams he acts out elaborate revenge fantasies: In one, he decapitates Doherty with a rusty shovel.

He's hardened himself, he says. When strangers say hello he ignores them. He still carries weapons, though now only a bat and a nightstick instead of guns or knives. Recently he broke off ties to a white supremacist group. Sam has met ruthless people, but he calls Doherty "the only monster I've ever met in my life."

With evident pride, Sam says "I'm not a nice person." He describes himself now as an agnostic. Asked whether he believes in Heaven and Hell, he says, "I would like to believe there's a Heaven, but I doubt it." Eyes flashing, he adds, "And if there's anything like Hell, then I'll see him there."