US Court Reverses Mgr. Lynn’s Conviction for Child Endangerment
Vatican Insider
Mgr. William Lynn, the Roman Catholic Church official who was accused of covering up priest-abuse cases has had his conviction overturned by Philadelphia’s court of appeal. He is being released from prison after being sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison back in July 2012. Mgr. Lynn had been secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, was in charge of assigning priests to the various parishes and investigating sex abuse claims. The US press said he had been accused of allowing a priest suspected of abusing minors to continue working with children. According to the judge who sentenced Mgr. Lynn in 2012, the Church official had "enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children." But the appeal court ruled that "the evidence was insufficient to demonstrate that [Lynn] acted with the 'intent of promoting or facilitating'" the offence. The two priests Mgr. Lynn allegedly covered for were Edward Avery who pleaded guilty the day before his trial and sentenced to 2, 5 to 5 years in prison and James Brennan who was accused of sexually abusing some minors but the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
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