July 19, 2003
Braio drops suit vs.
assistant DA
Filer acts without telling his lawyer Sime Braio
withdraws notice of suit against Conte, Reagon
Richard Nangle
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER- A Shrewsbury man who filed a notice of intent to sue
District Attorney John J. Conte for $1 million last week has changed his
mind.
Sime Braio filed notice yesterday in Superior Court that he has dropped
First Assistant District Attorney James Reagon from the suit. Mr. Braio
had alleged Mr. Reagon had told a church official he had HIV.
Mr. Braio's lawyer, Daniel J. Shea of Houston, said he had nothing to do
with yesterday's court filing.
Last week, Mr. Shea had filed a notice of intent to sue, charging Mr.
Conte with negligent supervision. He named Mr. Reagon and Monsignor
Thomas J. Sullivan, diocesan chancellor and liaison to Mr. Conte's
office, as defendants.
"It's taken me completely by surprise," Mr. Shea said. "That (Mr.
Braio's action) lets Conte off the hook."
With only Monsignor Sullivan left as a defendant, "I am totally at a
loss as to where we go from here," he said.
Mr. Shea said the development does not affect Mr. Braio's civil lawsuit
against Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, charging him with rape while
a priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in the early 1960s.
Mr. Shea said he decided to sue Mr. Conte, Mr. Reagon and Monsignor
Sullivan after taking Monsignor Sullivan's deposition in May.
Monsignor Sullivan testified at the time that Mr. Reagon told him Mr.
Braio is HIV-positive.
Mr. Reagon has denied making any such statement. A call to his home last
night was not returned. Mr. Braio was reached at home by telephone, but
declined to answer any questions.
Mr. Braio denies having HIV and released a laboratory result last week
showing he recently tested negative for HIV. Mr. Braio said he sought
the test because the public perception he has HIV was causing him
physical and emotional distress.
In the deposition, Monsignor Sullivan said, "He (Mr. Reagon) told me
that he (Mr. Braio) was a very sick man. That he, you know, has heart -
had heart problems, was HIV-positive. You know, had, you know - we
already knew he had a criminal record."
Mr. Shea said the conversation between the district attorney's office
and the diocese amounted to defamation per se.
Mr. Shea wrote in his court filing, "With respect to the Reagon
defendant, at time of trial, plaintiff will prove that Reagon
intentionally slandered or defamed his reputation per se by
manufacturing a story that Sime Braio had a loathsome disease, namely,
human immunodeficiency virus, that was neither justified nor true."
Richard Nangle can be reached by e-mail at
rnangle@telegram.com.
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