The priest and lawyer who advised Biurny Peguero Gonzalez both say she acted courageously by coming forward to clear the name of a jailed man she falsely accused of rape. "She's the hero, not me," said the priest who urged the 27-year old to find legal counsel after hearing her confession. Gonzalez told him the story of how she’d accused William McCaffrey—who’s now been released after four years behind bars—of sexually assaulting her in order to get sympathy from friends, reports the Post. But sources say that though she wanted the construction worker freed, she may not have been aware that coming forward would result in a prison term of her own.
Last week Gonzalez was sentenced to one to three years in jail for perjury but an anonymous acquaintance told the Post. "I don't think she felt that it was going to go beyond that confession. She just happened to pick a priest who said, 'Oh, no, no, no . . .' " The priest put her in contact with a lawyer, Paul Callan. According to him, "It took enormous courage to turn herself in. It was something that was spiritually motivated. She had nothing to gain and everything to lose."
The priest, Rev. Zeljko Guberovic, has drawn criticism for the unusually active roll he played in the case. Fellow men of the cloth questioned whether he acted appropriately by pushing Gonzalez’s confession outside of the church and reminded him he shouldn’t disclose any part of the testimony. "He's not supposed to say anything," Callan said. "There's a thing called priest-penitent privilege."
