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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"Very Rev. Dr. Joseph Purpura"
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:28pm
https://www.svots.edu/profile/very-rev-dr-joseph-p...
On Administrative Leave
By anon
Tue, 01/23/2018 - 11:21am
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!
From the Globe in 2015:
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:31pm
"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.”"
Recent history has shown us
By Kinopio
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 9:10am
Recent history has shown us that priests in Boston are very much in favor of rape.
Sounds like a very a pious family....
By Anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:32pm
"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/westw...
https://www.facebook.com/nacsoyo
What an AHole
By StillFromDorchester
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:49pm
Him and Jr can be cellmates.
you forgot to mention that
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 3:51pm
you forgot to mention that the man who watched his son get sentenced is a fucking priest.
Clarification
By Parkwayne
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 7:19pm
I mean, could be that it was just the one time.
The Apple Doesn't Fall . . .
By APB
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 5:31pm
etc.
What a guy.
By Kathode
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:58pm
In his other life, he is an Orthodox priest who teaches about ethics: http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/fr-joseph...
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/21/westw...
Too bad he doesn't care about the victim of his son's crime.
I wonder
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 2:04pm
What is daddy going to do to threaten the 12 year old that his son allegedly abducted in Winchester two years ago?
And yet people wonder
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 2:12pm
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?
Absolutely ridiculous abuse
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 2:56pm
Absolutely ridiculous abuse of the law. How is yelling at someone after the defendant has been tried, convicted, and sentenced witness intimidation?
Γαμήσου
By Parkwayne
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 7:18pm
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.
Yeah, it should be totally
By anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 8:02pm
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????
She is still a witness
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 9:21pm
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.
Surprised?
By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 9:32pm
Have you forgotten that you reside in Massachusetts?
Are you serious?
By Bob Leponge
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 6:01pm
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?
Response
By John
Wed, 01/30/2019 - 5:35pm
"Absolutely ridiculous abuse" is what happened to the woman involved, not how he chose to behave and how his family behaved.
"Purpura is the son of Joseph
By Anon
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 4:33pm
"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
Purpura is a very nasty disease
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 9:00pm
[img]http://diseasedefinition.info/wp-content/uploads/2...
Names...
By Bob Leponge
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 11:39pm
... are morally neutral.
Word association
By anon
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 10:57am
... is inevitable.
P.O.S.
By bulgingbuick
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 7:49am
Pagan.
If I ran that church...
By Gary C
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 8:40am
I'd throw his ass to the curb. He's about the worst representative of your religion that one could ask for.
Pussy Riot
By anon
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 1:20pm
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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