MANCHESTER, NH – The trial of James Woodlock, a former Youth Development Center youth counselor accused of being an accomplice to the rape of David Meehan dating back 28 years when he was a 14-year-old boy detained in the juvenile facility, opened Tuesday.
Woodlock, 60, of Manchester, is charged with three counts of being an accomplice to aggravated felonious sexual assault. Two of the charges allege that between Oct. 30, 1997 and Sept, 12, 1998, Woodlock acted as a lookout as another youth counselor Steven Murphy sexually assaulted the teen. The third charge accuses him of aiding Jeffrey Buskey, during the same time frame, in assaulting Meehan and then acting as a lookout as Buskey raped the teen anally.
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Charles Bucca, in his opening statement in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, said the case is about forcible, violent rapes of a child by people who were supposed to be mentoring, guiding and protecting him. Woodlock, he said, stood watch to make sure no one saw Murphy and Buskey rape the teen.
Woodlock, he said, held the door of David’s cell, forcibly held David down and was involved in beating David into submission to make the rape happen.
The assaults were not just for sex, Bucca told the jury, it was to “establish a level of dominance and show him who was the boss.”
Defense attorney Richard Guerriero Jr., in his 30-minute opening, told jurors that “Woodlock is innocent.”
He said in 2017, Woodlock, who he called “Jim,” got the “shock of his life.” He received a phone call telling him he was accused of sexual assault. “He was stunned,” Guerriero said.
Woodlock was born and raised in Manchester and went to work at YDC after he was graduated from Northeastern University. He worked there from 1988 to 1999 and then was a juvenile probation officer for many years.
Guerriero said there is no corroborating eye witness; no confession, and no DNA evidence. The alleged crimes, he said, weren’t reported until 18 years later.
Guerriero said jurors will have to assess the credibility and reliability of the witness, meaning Meehan, in reaching their verdict. He said Meehan could have reported the alleged rapes when he was seen by the nurse, or to a teacher when he went to school, which was located on the YDC property. Or he could have reported it to his guardian when he was furloughed or to the police officers who brought him back in handcuffs after he went AWOL from that furlough.
“He had plenty of opportunity and he never said anything,” Guerriero said.
Meehan made his allegations public in 2017 when the state launched an investigation into the YDC. Ultimately, 10 men were charged with abusing children detained there.
Meehan is the lead plaintiff in the civil suit against the state of New Hampshire. In a 2024 civil trial in Rockingham County Superior Court, he testified he was sexually and physically assaulted hundreds of times by YDC staff while detained there for four years until he aged out at age 18.
The jury awarded Meehan $38 million in his lawsuit against the state. It was the first of more than 1,100 cases brought against the state by child victims of abuse at the YDC and other state child facilities or contractors.
Within minutes of the verdict being announced, the state contended jury’s verdict was legally limited to $475,000. That’s because the jury form was marked to indicate the state was liable for one incident that caused Meehan’s years of suffering and mental illness. Under state law, an incident is capped at $475,000.
Jurors were not told about the $475,000 limit per incident.
Jurors who contacted defense attorneys later said they meant he suffered from one case of PTSD resulting from hundreds of incidents of assaults.
Defense attorneys are appealing the judge’s ruling.