Father of former youth detention center resident testifies against him in New Hampshire trial

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — The father of a man who says he was regularly raped and beaten as a teenager at the New Hampshire Youth Detention Center testified briefly Tuesday, saying his son had a reputation for dishonesty.

Daniel Meehan was the first witness called by the State, which is defending itself against allegations that his negligence allowed his son David to be abused at the Youth Development Center. Since David Meehan went to police in 2017, 11 former officials have been arrested and more than 1,100 former residents of the Manchester facility have filed lawsuits over allegations of abuse that spanned six decades.

David Meehan’s lawsuit was the first to be filed and the first to go to trial earlier this month. During his three days on the witness stand, state attorneys questioned Meehan in detail about his childhood and suggested he was a violent boy who falsely accused his parents of physical abuse when they tried to impose rules. In contrast, the state’s attorneys spent little time that Tuesday, questioning Meehan’s father for a little more than five minutes.

The elder Meehan described enrolling his son when he was young in Cub Scouts and other activities and seeking help for him when he complained of sleep problems. He also contradicted his son’s claim that his then-wife burned their son with cigarettes. Daniel Meehan said that as a firefighter whose loved ones suffered from emphysema, he did not smoke and did not allow cigarettes in the home.

“Based on all of your experiences before going to YDC and since going to YDC, does he have a reputation for lying?” asked Assistant Attorney General Brandon Chase. “Yes,” replied Meehan.

Under questioning by his son’s lawyer, Daniel Meehan acknowledged that some of this dishonesty occurred when his son was struggling with drug addiction. David Meehan previously said he used heroin to combat post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the alleged abuse.

Attorney David Vicinanzo also questioned Daniel Meehan about his career as a firefighter, suggesting it took him so far away from home that he didn’t know much about his children or his ex-wife, who spent years to be unfaithful to him before finding out. Neither side asked him about David Meehan’s time at the detention center, where, according to the lawsuit, he endured beatings, rapes and long, near-daily stays in solitary confinement.

Over three weeks, jurors heard from Meehan and more than a dozen witnesses called by his lawyers. They included former staff members who said they faced resistance, even threats, when they raised concerns or investigated, a former resident who described being gang raped in a prison cage staircase and several psychology experts. Besides Meehan’s father, the defense’s initial witnesses included a woman who spent nearly 40 years at YDC as a youth counselor, teacher and principal, as well as a child psychologist who criticized previous experts.

Psychologist Eric Mart said Meehan’s experts assumed he was telling the truth without running tests to assess whether he was exaggerating. Mart, who assessed Meehan when he was 13, said it was fair to say he had significant mental health issues before being sent to the youth center. He also said he never saw anything unusual when he encountered teenagers at the facility in the 1990s.

Although a former teacher testified Monday that she saw suspicious bruises on Meehan and a half-dozen other teenagers in the 1990s, former principal Marie Sullivan said she never saw any signs of abuse and that no student had told him that they were victims of abuse.

Sullivan, who retired in 2021, was asked if the staff and teachers cared about the teens.

“I think they did it because it’s very hard work, and you don’t stay if you don’t love what you do,” she said.