MANCHESTER, NH – James Woodlock is either a man who beat and choked a 16-year-old boy and acted as a lookout so his Youth Development Center co-workers could rape the teen, as prosecutors contend, or he is an innocent man accused of horrific acts that he says never happened, per the defense.
A Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District jury of nine men and three women are now deliberating the case against Woodlock, 60, of Manchester, charged with three counts of accomplice to aggravated felonious sexual assault. About 2:30 p.m. on Friday, the jury received the case to deliberate but were sent home for the weekend at 3 p.m. The early dismissal was because presiding Judge N. William Delker had a prior commitment.
Over four days, jurors listened to testimony, including from alleged victim David Meehan and Woodlock. Woodlock testified on Thursday and Friday morning, the defense rested after calling five additional witnesses – a former YDC resident and four former employees — two youth counselors, a Chaplain and clinical coordinator.
Closing arguments followed with defense attorney Richard Guerriero Jr. going first.
Woodlock, a former Youth Development Center youth counselor, is accused of being an accomplice to the rape of Meehan dating back 28 years when as a teen he was court-ordered to the Manchester juvenile facility, now known as the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center.
He 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, in two separate incidents, Woodlock acted as a lookout and/or beat and choked Meehan and held his legs down as youth counselor Steven Murphy allegedly sexually assaulted the teen: forcing his penis into Meehan’s mouth and ejaculating, and attempting it again in another incident but instead ejaculating on the teen’s face. Meehan testified at the time he was a virgin.
The third charge accuses Woodlock of aiding Jeffrey Buskey, during the same time frame, in beating and choking Meehan and then acting as a lookout as Buskey raped the teen anally.
Guerriero, in his closing argument, told the jury Woodlock did not have to take the stand, that he could have allowed the case to just collapse on its own given there was no eyewitness, no corroborating evidence such as DNA, and inconsistencies in Meehan’s statements. One inconsistency Guerriero pointed out was Meehan told police there was only one incident involving Murphy and Woodlock and testified to that in his civil trial. Yet, Woodlock was charged with two offenses.
He called those “Yes, but” statements that Meehan admitted to saying but had explanations for the inconsistencies, such as he later corrected them.
It was Woodlock’s decision to testify, the attorney said, because his client believes when “you are accused of something as horrible as child sexual abuse you stand up.” Woodlock did stand up and when he testified he said, “I didn’t do it.”
Woodlock testified, Guerriero said, because he is a good person. He said Woodlock also testified that he couldn’t guarantee Meehan wasn’t sexually assaulted at YDC.
“He said, “I’m devastated for him,’” Guerriero reminded the jury. “He’s a man who cares about juveniles.” He said if he known about it “the world would have known about it back then.”
Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Audriana Mekula, in her closing argument, countered that statement saying that Meehan in a 1999 group therapy session led by Woodlock told him, “Those guys are sick. You know they raped me.” Woodlock, she said, replied, “We’re all family. I love you. Jeff loves you.”
Meehan, she said, had a rough childhood and didn’t know what love was. His mother burned him with cigarettes. He was close with Buskey, Mekula said, and thought of him as a father.
The defense had repeatedly questioned why Meehan hadn’t told anyone about the alleged assaults, pointing out there were other employees at YDC such as teachers, nurses, the clinical coordinator, and chaplain. He also was out on a furlough a couple of times, when he could have told anyone, including the police officers who brought him back, and didn’t.
But Mekula said another time, when Meehan was sent to King’s Cottage, where the teens were held in solitary confinement for major infractions, he told youth counselor Tom Searles about the rapes and beatings. Searles, Mekula said, told the teen, “That doesn’t happen here.”
That, she said, eviscerated any trust he had in the staff. Again, nothing was investigated. Searles, who also was criminally charged, has since died.
Mekula, in starting her closing argument, pointed at Woodlock and said, “This defendant” actively participated in the sexual assaults.
“This defendant knew exactly what was going on. He saw what they were doing. Not only did he do nothing to stop it, he helped them do it,” she said.
She said Woodlock “stood watch” as Murphy shoves his penis down David’s throat as the teen cried and choked.
In 2017, Meehan’s son got into trouble and he feared he would end up in YDC and be raped. He told his wife what happened to him at YDC and ultimately he went to police.
Investigators said he was extremely emotional and the initial interview ended because he couldn’t continue. “He was embarrassed and humiliated and worried that no one would believe him,” Mekula said.
The defense also focused on the dates of the alleged assaults, saying one, involving Buskey, was “around” Halloween 1997. Mekula said the state does not have to prove the date of the assaults.
Guerriero, in his closing, also reminded jurors that Meehan had been a daily user of heroin – both inhaling and injecting the illegal drug – for seven years or 2, 555 days, and questioned the affect that had on his memory.
Mekula told the jurors Meehan has been sober for 10 years or 3,650 days. And, she said, they didn’t hear any testimony from an expert concerning the effects of drugs on someone’s memory.
When an investigator spoke to Woodlock about the allegations, Mekula said Woodlock said, “’I never saw anything like that go on.’ Not that it never happened.”
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, three years later, he filed a civil suit against the state of New Hampshire. 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.
In that 2024 civil trial in Rockingham County Superior Court, Meehan 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. Within minutes of the verdict being announced, the state contended the 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.