Charles Jaynes, killer of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley, asks for bizarre name change

By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff

BROCKTON — Convict Charles Jaynes and the father of the Cambridge boy he murdered in 1997 faced each other in a courtroom today as Jaynes asked a judge to legally change his name to reflect his new Wiccan spirituality.

Jaynes has asked to change his name to Manasseh-Invictus Auric Thutmose V. But Robert Curley, father of murdered 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley, spoke out against the request in Plymouth Probate and Family Court.

Curley said Jaynes, a 37-year-old former Brockton resident, had used aliases in the past to avoid detection by law enforcement.

“He’s a master at this,’’ Curley told Judge Catherine P. Sabaitis. “The things that make Charles Jaynes so dangerous is the well-spoken words he had today, the nice, soft demeanor he has today.’’

“But I tell you, Charles Jaynes is the face of evil, pure evil, and that’s what makes him so dangerous,” Curley said.

Jaynes and a friend, Salvatore Sicari, kidnapped and smothered Jeffrey Curley and then tossed his body into a river in Maine, hidden inside a container.

Jaynes told the judge that Department of Correction will still track him by the inmate number he was issued —W-65722 — when he began serving his life sentence, following his 1998 conviction for second-degree murder.

“I am not asking to change my Social Security number. I am not asking to change my prison identification number,’’ he told the judge while standing behind security glass in the courtroom just a few feet away from Robert Curley.

“In prison, when somebody asks me who I am, they don’t care about the name, you know,’’ Jayne said. “They basically go by one thing in prison, the number. I am W-65722 to them. That’s what I will always be, no matter what the name is.’’

Jaynes also tried to allay concern that his name change would make it hard for law enforcement to keep track of him if he ever is released. Under a second-degree murder conviction, a convict can be eligible for parole after 15 years.

Jaynes said he was certain he wouldn’t ever be released because he is an innocent man wrongly convicted who will not falsely admit to the crime.

“For me to get paroled I will have to lie and admit to a murder I didn’t commit,’’ Jaynes said. “Without me lying to the Parole Board, they are not going to give me a parole. So I am going to spend the rest of my life in prison.’’

Jaynes did not mention a habeas corpus petition pending in US District Court in Boston, which potentially could lead to his being granted a new trial if he convinces federal judges that he was convicted during a constitutionally defective trial.

Sabaitis said from the bench that she will issue a written ruling within 30 days.