WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) – A Worcester Superior Court judge on Friday ordered the prison inmate accused of killing defrocked priest John Geoghan to undergo a preliminary psychiatric evaluation.

Joseph L. Druce interrupted a pretrial hearing several times, asking that he be allowed to show the press what he described as leg injuries from his shackles and alleging that he’d been threatened by a prison official.

Druce is accused of beating and strangling Geoghan in his cell at the Souza-Baronowski prison in Shirley on Aug. 23.

Geoghan, 68, a key figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy abuse scandal, was serving a nine- to 10-year prison term for groping a 10-year-old boy, but he was accused in civil lawsuits of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades as a Boston-area priest.

Druce spoke to the press directly as he left the courtroom, and from the next room, shouted an apparent criticism of the sentence given this week to another pedophile priest, the Rev. Robert E. Kelley, a former Leominster priest convicted of raping two young girls in the early 1980s.

“They had the nerve to give that guy five to seven (years),” Druce shouted.

Druce’s attorney, John H. LaChance, said he’s had trouble having confidential conversations with Druce, who’s being held under 24-hour observation and is allowed to talk to LaChance only over the telephone and through a transparent partition.

In a motion, LaChance wrote that part of a private conversation between him and Druce was repeated by a prison guard, exacerbating Druce’s paranoia and mental illness. LaChance also wrote that materials that Druce prepared for his defense were seized from his cell, and that he’s been denied access to pens, paper and legal materials.

“Things are progressing poorly with respect to my ability to represent him,” LaChance said.

Judge John McCann ordered Druce to undergo a mental health evaluation at Souza-Baranowski – the first step toward Druce getting a more extensive 30-day competency evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.

“We do not object to his being examined for competency,” said prosecutor Lawrence J. Murphy.

McCann refused to order Druce transferred to another prison as LaChance had requested, saying where he was imprisoned was an “administrative matter” that was up to the Department of Correction.

The judge reissued a previous ruling instructing the DOC to allow private conversations between Druce and LaChance.

Druce has pleaded innocent in Geoghan’s killing.

In letters to newspapers, Druce has identified himself as Geoghan’s “exterminator” and said pedophiles should be castrated. He’s also boasted that he killed Geoghan to “avenge the children.”

During his arraignment on Sept. 19, Druce shouted as he was led from the courtroom with his arms and legs shackled.

Druce’s attorney has indicated he may seek an insanity defense.

Druce, 38, is serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a gay man.