Philadelphia Catholic priest twice convicted of protecting child molesters released from jail

By Max Gelman
New York Daily News
August 2, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/priest-jailed-protecting-child-molesters-released-prison-article-1.2735829

Monsignor William Lynn was convicted in 2012 of protecting pedophile priests.

Lynn’s conviction has been overturned twice.

The first U.S. church official to be jailed for shielding pedophile priests will be released from prison, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Monsignor William Lynn, 65, can be released on bail after his conviction was tossed out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on July 26.

In 2012, Lynn became the first U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be charged with or convicted of protecting child molesters within the church.

Lynn served almost his entire three-year sentence and was up for parole in October. He was able to post 10% of his $250,000 bail.

Even though Lynn's conviction has now been overturned twice, Philadelphia's top prosecutor vowed to bring Lynn to trial a third time, saying there is "substantial evidence" against him.

"My office takes the charges of institutional sexual abuse extremely seriously," Philadelphia County District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement. "I will continue to use every available legal option at my disposal to prosecute pedophile priests and those who shield them."

Evidence admitted by the trial judge was found to be unfairly prejudiced, leading to Lynn's second overturned conviction, ABC station WPVI-TV reported.

Lynn's lawyer said Williams' resolve to retry the case doesn't make sense because if convicted, Lynn would only serve the two-and-a-half months remaining on his sentence.

"For some reason, he continues to want to beat up on this guy," lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said after the hearing Tuesday. "I think we all know where Lynn stood in this (church) hierarchy. We all know that Lynn never touched a kid."

The accuser in Lynn's case, an ex-altar boy who said he was raped by two priests and his fifth-grade teacher, settled a civil suit against Lynn in August 2015.

During Lynn's tenure as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, he was accused of enabling priests to molest children by assigning the pedophiles to new parishes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Lynn kept victims' complaints in a locked room and made a list of 35 priests accused of abuse.

During the appeals, Lynn has been in and out of jail. He is scheduled to be picked up by his relatives sometime Tuesday and due back in court Thursday for a retrial date.

The Philadelphia chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests released a statement praising Williams' efforts to retry Lynn and encouraged more victims to come forward.

"Finally, a Catholic enabler — a church official who put kids in harms' way — has been punished. And he may be punished further," spokesperson Karen Polesir said in the statement. "That should make many employers think again when they're tempted to hide known or suspected child sex crimes."