Associated
Press
Aug. 31, 2000
BOSTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union will represent a group
that advocates sex between men and boys in a lawsuit brought by the family of a slain
10-year-old.
The family of Jeffrey Curley of Cambridge said the North American
Man/Boy Love Association and its web site which is now off-line incited the attempted
molestation and murder of the boy on Oct. 1, 1997.
One of two men convicted in the killing, Charles Jaynes, 25,
reportedly viewed the group's web site shortly before the killing, and also had in his
possession some of NAMBLA's publications. Also convicted in the killing was 24-year-old
Salvatore Sicari.
The ACLU said the case, filed in federal court in mid-May, involves
issues of freedom of speech and association.
"For us, it is a fundamental First Amendment case," John
Roberts, executive director of the Massachusetts branch of the ACLU, told Boston Globe
Wednesday. "It has to do with communications on a web site, and material that does
not promote any kind of criminal behavior whatsoever."
ACLU officials said NAMBLA members deny encouraging coercion, rape
or violence.
Attorney Lawrence Frisoli, who represents the Curleys, said he is
glad the ACLU is defending NAMBLA, because he has had trouble locating the group's
members.
Harvey Silverglate, an ACLU board member, said Wednesday that the
group's attorneys will try to block any attempt by the Curleys to get NAMBLA's membership
lists, or other materials identifying members.
The ACLU also will act as a surrogate for NAMBLA, allowing its
members to defend themselves in court while remaining anonymous.
According to the Globe, NAMBLA officials in the past have said their
main goal is the abolition of age-of-consent laws that classify sex with children as rape.
At two separate trials last year, prosecutors said Jaynes and Sicari
were sexually obsessed with the boy, lured him from his Cambridge neighborhood with the
promise of a new bike, and then smothered him with a gasoline-soaked rag when he resisted
their sexual advances. They then stuffed him into a concrete-filled container and dumped
it into a Maine river.
Sicari, convicted of first-degree murder, is serving a life sentence
without the possibility of parole. Jaynes' second-degree murder and kidnapping convictions
enable him to seek parole in 23 years.
The Curleys last week were awarded $328 million by a superior court
jury in a civil suit against Jaynes and Sicari.
Copyright (c) 2000 The Associated Press