EDGE Boston

The family of a murdered boy have dropped their 8-year lawsuit against an organization whom their suit claimed spurred the kidnapping, killing, and rape of their son.

Jeffrey Curley was reportedly coaxed into a car in Cambridge, MA, by two men, Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, in Oct. of 1997, recounted an Apr. 30 article in The Boston Globe.

The men had promised the 10-year-old boy a bicycle, according to authorities. When they attempted to molest him sexually, the boy struggled and was killed by the men, who suffocated him with a gasoline-soaked rag, the Globe reported.

After killing the boy, Jaynes and Sicari reportedly returned to Jaynes’ apartment in Manchester, NH. There, they had sex with the body, before putting it into a plastic contained along with concrete and lime and dumping it into a river in Maine.

At their trial, each of the suspects said that the other one had killed the boy; Sicari was found guilty of first degree murder and given a life sentence, and Jaynes was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of receiving parole after serving 23 years.

The horrific crime led MA to the brink of reinstating the death penalty; the measure was defeated by a single vote in a highly charged legislative session that galvanized the state.

A later federal action initiated by John Ashcroft in 2003 attempted to renew the case and put Jaynes back on trial for the death penalty.

Though MA does not have the death penalty, the federal case would have proceeded on enhanced death penalty statutes and hinged partly on Jaynes having crossed state lines in the commission of the kidnapping, murder, and rape.

Jaynes and Sicari were also found liable in a civil suit for $328 million in 2000, though neither man actually had much in the way of assets.

The crime led to something of a backlash against gays in the sate for a time, though the men involved had girlfriends and were nominally heterosexual.

Moreover, research into sexual abuse against children has indicated that at least 96 percent of perpetrators identify as heterosexual, with most of the perpetrators being straight males.

Because Jaynes had briefly belonged to the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), had viewed online content from the group prior to the boy’s murder, and possessed literature he had allegedly acquired from the group, which promotes sexual activity between adult men and male minors, the Curley family also brought suit in 2000 against NAMBLA and 18 members of the group, claiming that the group had incited the attack and murder.

However, only one witness was identified who was prepared to testify that the man/boy love organization had had any influence in the tragedy. When that witness was declared incompetent by a judge, the Curley family brought their eight-year suit to a close, the Globe reported.

The Globe article quoted the boy’s father, who said of the witness, "That was the only link we were counting on."

Added Mr. Curley, "When they ruled that out, that was the end of the line."

NAMBLA and some of the individual members named in the suit were represented by ACLU staff lawyer Sarah R. Wunsch, who said, "There was never any evidence that NAMBLA was connected to the death of Jeffrey Curley."

Said Wunsch, "It’s been our view that for the last eight years, it’s been the First Amendment that’s been the defendant in this case."

Added Wunsch, "In America, there’s freedom to publish unpopular ideas, and that’s what this case was about."

One NAMBLA member named in the suit was represented separately by attorney Elizabeth Lunt, whom the Globe article quoted as saying that the suit’s plaintiffs "did not have a shred of evidence to support their contention that NAMBLA somehow caused this terrible homicide to happen."

The Curley family were supported in the case by the conservative MI-based Thomas More Law Center.

According to Wikipedia, NAMBLA has been so isolated in recent years that it barely exists any longer. GLBT equality organizations condemn the group and its goal of decriminalizing sexual relations between minors and adults, and have effectively distanced themselves from the organization.