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Man faces witness-intimidation charge after allegedly yelling at woman his son had just been sentenced for for choking, raping and robbing

A man who watched his son get sentenced yesterday to up to 18 years in prison for following a woman home from the Fenway Star Market and raping her now faces a criminal charge of his own after he allegedly began yelling at the victim in "a hostile verbal confrontation" in the courtroom, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Joseph Purpura is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 19 on a charge of witness intimidation, the DA's office reports.

Both the elder Purpura and the victim were in court to watch a Suffolk Superior Court judge sentence Purpura after a jury last month convicted him of aggravated rape, indecent assault and battery, strangulation or suffocation, unarmed burglary and larceny over $250.

The judge set a sentence of 15 to 18 years. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 20 to 25 years

Prosecutors convinced the jury that Purpura followed the woman home from the supermarket, then choked and raped her in her Queensberry Street apartment and left after taking her cell phone.

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Comments

His profile now reads "ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE" in a prominent place.

I guess they are tired of hearing about his lack of self control when people find out that he counsels youth!

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"Purpura is the son of Joseph Purpura, an Orthodox priest, who could not be reached for comment. A man who answered a telephone listed to the elder Purpura declined to identify himself, but said “the family has asked to be left alone.”"

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Recent history has shown us that priests in Boston are very much in favor of rape.

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"Purpura is the son of Joseph Purpura, an Orthodox priest, who could not be reached for comment. A man who answered a telephone listed to the elder Purpura declined to identify himself, but said “the family has asked to be left alone.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/21/westwood-man-face-rape-char...

https://www.facebook.com/nacsoyo

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Him and Jr can be cellmates.

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you forgot to mention that the man who watched his son get sentenced is a fucking priest.

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I mean, could be that it was just the one time.

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etc.

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In his other life, he is an Orthodox priest who teaches about ethics: http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/fr-joseph-purpura-dmin.html

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/21/westwood-man-face-rape-char...

Too bad he doesn't care about the victim of his son's crime.

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What is daddy going to do to threaten the 12 year old that his son allegedly abducted in Winchester two years ago?

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People wonder why women don't report rapes and have rapists put in jail.

Gee. Continuous attack by relatives? House burned down? Harassment and threats?

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Absolutely ridiculous abuse of the law. How is yelling at someone after the defendant has been tried, convicted, and sentenced witness intimidation?

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Your take is that this is totally cool and legit to scream and your kid's victim?

It's witness intimidation because he is trying to intimidate the witness. Doesn't matter that the witness has already testified.

The idea, you see, is to prevent people from being dissuaded in general against being a witness in a criminal trial against a potentially dangerous defendant.

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Yeah, it should be totally legal to harass any victim as soon as their rapist is sentenced.

What in the actual eff is WRONG with you????

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If there is an appeal, she might need to testify. Attacking her in the courtroom might dissuade her from showing up.

If there is, for some reason, a retrial, she would need to testify. Attacking her in the courtroom might influence her willingness to cooperate with that process.

She is still a witness to the crime. Intimidating her might unduly influence further legal proceedings. It might also dissuade other victims from pressing their cases against him (a quick google turns up an attempted abduction in Winchester that he was supposedly charged with).

I'm surprised that the judge didn't hold an immediate dangerousness hearing and jail him to give the victim some running room.

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Have you forgotten that you reside in Massachusetts?

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You're a witness to a crime. You testify. The trial is over. The defendant's crime associates start stalking you and publicly threatening you, first to punish you and secondly to deter future "snitches." Isn't that *precisely* what witness intimidation laws are intended to prevent?

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"Absolutely ridiculous abuse" is what happened to the woman involved, not how he chose to behave and how his family behaved.

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"Purpura is the son of Joseph Purpura, an Orthodox priest, who could not be reached for comment."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/21/westwood-man-face-rape-charges-roxbury-courtroom/JouZ1OaYXUAFTEZ4iDP9UK/story.html

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IMAGE(http://diseasedefinition.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/signs-and-symptoms-of-Henoch%E2%80%93Sch%C3%B6nlein-purpura-HSP.png)

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... are morally neutral.

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... is inevitable.

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Pagan.

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I'd throw his ass to the curb. He's about the worst representative of your religion that one could ask for.

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You do realize that Pussy Riot was jailed for offending Russian Orthodox Patriarchs.

Seems like the problem with women might be systematic, no?

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