MANCHESTER, NH – James Woodlock was led out of a courtroom in handcuffs Monday after a jury found him guilty of two counts of being an accomplice to the rape of a teenage boy 28 years ago at the Youth Development Center.
The jury found him not guilty of a third count accusing him of aiding youth counselor Steven Murphy’s attempt to force David Meehan to perform fellatio.
Meehan, sitting next to his wife, showed no reaction but let out a big sigh.
When the jury foreman announced the guilty verdicts, women sitting in the Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District courtroom behind the defense began crying. One sobbed so loud a deputy had to ask her to leave the courtroom.
Judge N. William Delker immediately revoked Woodlock’s bail resulting in him being jailed. Sentencing is set for Dec. 10 at 9 a.m.
In the lobby, after the verdict, women who had been sitting on the defense side openly cried.
“Thank you for your support,” defense attorney Richard Guerreiro Jr. told them. “I know it’s not easy.” He made no comment to the media.
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Audriana Mekula, who prosecuted the case with Assistant Attorney General Charles Bucca, called the verdict a fair and just one.
David Meehan, the victim who is now in his 40s, left the courtroom without commenting.
Asked what his reaction was, Mekula said she couldn’t speak for him but he appeared to be happy.
Meehan still must testified in two other trials against former youth counselors Jeffrey Buskey and Steven Murphy.
Manchester Ink Link normally does not identify victims but Meehan went public with his allegations and was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state.
Meehan made his allegations public in 2017 because his son had gotten into trouble and he feared he would end up in YDC, later renamed the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center, and be raped. When Meehan contacted law enforcement, the state launched an investigation into the YDC. Ultimately, 10 men were charged with abusing children detained there.
Meehan, three years later, filed a civil suit against the state. It was the first of more than 1,100 cases brought by people sent to the YDC who alleged they were physically and/or sexually abused there.
Meehan’s civil case went to trial in 2024 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. 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
The assaults took place between Oct. 30, 1997 and Sept. 12, 1998, when Meehan was a teenager court-ordered detailed at the Youth Development Center.
Meehan testified to what happened to him. Woodlock took the stand as well, testifying in his own defense and saying, “I didn’t do it.”
In her closing, Mekula detailed what Woodlock allegedly did, including beating the teen and holding his legs as Buskey sexually assaulted him.
“This defendant wants you to believe YDC was a safe and supportive environment,” Mekula told the jury of three women and nine men.
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.
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.”
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 repeatedly questioned why Meehan hadn’t told anyone about the alleged assaults, pointing out there were other employees at YDC such as teachers, nurses, and others.
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 maintained Woodlock 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.
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.”
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