Defense Requests Mistrial in Case of Beaten Priest

By Karina Rusk
KGO
June 22, 2012

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8711473

[with video]

Attorneys for Will Lynch, accused of beating former priest Jerry Lindner, who he says abused him, have filed a motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct.

Lynch is accused of tracking down and beating Father Jerry Lindner at his church retirement facility in Los Gatos in 2010, but he claims Lindner molested him in the 1970s.

The deputy district attorney, in her opening statement Thursday, said the former priest would probably lie about molesting Lynch and his brothers. When asked under oath, Lindner did indeed deny the molestation providing the basis for the request for a mistrial, perjury, which the prosecutor herself predicted.

Lindner had never been in a courtroom before and never had to answer to charges of molestation because of the court's statute of limitations. This case was a way for Lynch, one of the men who says he was horrifically abused by Father Lindner, to put him on the stand.

In one respect, Lynch has gotten what he wanted by creating more attention. Already, the defense says additional victims of Father Lindner have come forward.

A judge's decision on the mistrial is expected on Monday.