Joseph Druce

Joseph L. Druce (born Darrin Ernest Smiledge; 1965) is an American convicted murderer. While already serving a life sentence, Druce killed John Geoghan, a former Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of sexually abusing children, and who had also been at the center of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal.

In August 2003, while in protective custody at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, Geoghan was trapped in his cell by Druce, who jammed the door closed so Correction Officers could not reach him. Druce then strangled and stomped Geoghan to death. An autopsy revealed Geoghan's cause of death to be "ligature strangulation and blunt chest trauma."

The state immediately began an investigation into procedures at the prison. There have been questions raised about the wisdom and propriety of placing these two men in the same unit, since prison officials had been warned by another inmate that Druce had something planned. It was noted while two guards are normally stationed in the unit where Geoghan and Druce were being held, there was only one Officer in the unit at the time — one had left temporarily to escort another inmate to a medical station. Union officials had noted there were staffing cuts previously at the prison, which they feel led to the prison being a more dangerous and volatile place.

It has also been suggested Druce had been offered money to kill Geoghan, or Druce thought he would gain prestige from fellow prisoners for doing so.

A Worcester, Massachusetts jury found Druce guilty of first-degree murder on January 25, 2006, after rejecting his insanity defense. During the trial Druce was seen with a black eye he received from an individual who surprised him in his cell. The man who had surprised Druce was reported to have been wearing corrections officer pants, suggesting a reprisal by prison staff for the embarrassment surrounding Geoghan's murder. Druce was given a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

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