Court Overturns Catholic Church Supervisor's Sex Scandal Conviction, Again

By Arnold White
Press Telegraph
December 23, 2015

http://presstelegraph.com/2015/12/23/court-overturns-catholic-church-supervisors-sex-scandal.html

Monsignor William Lynn exits the criminal justice center after a bail hearing Monday Jan. 6 2014 in Philadelphia

Tuesday's Superior Court ruling ordering a new trial also could be appealed to the state's highest court.

Lynn was the first USA church official ever convicted in the handling of abuse complaints.

The landmark conviction of a Roman Catholic church official imprisoned over his handling of priest sexual abuse complaints was overturned Tuesday for the second time.

The appeals court said the trial judge erred in allowing weeks of testimony from 21...

The Pennsylvania Superior Court found that Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia did not receive a fair trial because a trial judge allowed jurors to hear too much evidence about the wrongdoing of priests who had abused children. William Lynn, the central defendant in the landmark 2012 trial involving clergy sex-abuse in Philadelphia.

"It's certainly taken a toll, but he's holding up", said defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom, who visited Lynn last week and hopes to get him released quickly.

Lynn, who as secretary for clergy oversaw the assignments and discipline against wayward priests around Philadelphia, was sentenced to three to six years in state prison for child endangerment. "It's a roller coaster, and he's been on it. Hopefully, we can end it now".

Philadelphia prosecutors, who could again seek reinstatement, said they were reviewing the latest decision in Lynn's case, which they called a violent crime.

During his tenure as secretary for clergy for the archdiocese from 1992 until 2004, Lynn documented hundreds of abuse complaints against priests and then locked them in a secret archives room. The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and teacher Bernard Shero maintained their innocence but were convicted at trial