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At the D.a.'s Office, It's about to Hit the Fan

By Ralph Cipriano
Big Trial
December 12, 2016

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/12/at-das-office-shit-is-about-to-hit-fan.html



Seth Williams should bring an umbrella to work.

Why? Because our corrupt district attorney, already under investigation by the FBI, the IRS and a grand jury, is about to see his proudest achievement as a prosecutor get splattered by what's about to hit the fan.

What does Seth Williams consider to be his proudest achievement? Why his self-described "historic" prosecution of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic cleric in the country to be sent to jail, not for touching a child, but for failing to adequately supervise sexually abusive priests. It's an achievement that has caused church haters and so-called victims advocates to swoon over Seth. At the height of this adulation, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd proclaimed Seth, raised Catholic, to be the "avenging altar boy."

But there's long been a problem with the Lynn case, namely that the alleged victim -- former altar boy Danny Gallagher AKA "Billy Doe" -- is a transparent fraud, as revealed in his copious medical records, legal depositions, and in two interviews with a couple of psychiatrists.

Today, Lynn's lawyer, Thomas A. Bergstrom, filed a motion in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court that seeks to take the pre-trial testimony of retired Detective Joseph Walsh. Here's why alarm bells are about to go off at the D.A.'s office as soon as they read Bergstrom's motion -- Walsh was the lead investigator in the Billy Doe case. And, according to Bergstrom's motion, Walsh has talked to defense lawyers and "provided exculpatory evidence" never revealed to defense lawyers during two previous archdiocese sex abuse trials.

In his motion, Bergstrom states that he and Jeffey Ogren Esq., who represents another jailed defendant in the Billy Doe case, former school teacher Bernard Shero, "interviewed Walsh on Nov. 29, 2016."

"During that interview, Walsh provided exculpatory evidence as to both defendants, Lynn and Bernard Shero -- evidence that was not disclosed to counsel prior to Lynn's first trial and is clearly exculpatory."

Exculpatory evidence is defined as evidence favorable to a defendant, evidence that tends to exonerate, or free one from accusations. But there's a problem with the witness. The retired detective, according to Bergstrom, is scheduled for two surgeries over the next three months.

"It is clearly in the interest of justice that Walsh's testimony be taken pre-trial," Bergstrom wrote. "Walsh expressly agreed to testify should he be subpoenaed."

It was the testimony of Billy Doe that sent three priests to jail, as well as former teacher Shero, who is doing 8 to 16 years for abusing the former altar boy.

Lynn, the archdiocese of Philadelphia's former secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, was convicted in 2012 on a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, namely Billy Doe/Danny Gallagher. The monsignor was sentenced to a jail term of 3 to 6 years. He served 33 months in jail, plus 15 months of house arrest before his conviction was overturned by an appeals court.

In December 2015, the state Superior Court overturned Lynn's conviction and ordered a new trial. A panel of three Superior Court judges ruled that the trial court had "abused its discretion" by allowing 21 supplemental cases of sex abuse to be admitted as evidence against Msgr. Lynn.

The 21 cases dated back to 1948, three years before the 65-year-old Lynn was born, and took up at least 25 days of the 32-day trial. In their successful appeal brief, Lynn's lawyers argued that the prosecution "introduced these files to put on trial the entire Archdiocese of Philadelphia, hoping to convict [Lynn] by proxy for the sins of the entire church."

The detective who sat on the witness stand during those 25 days, and was the D.A.'s expert witness on the crimes contained in the archdiocese's so-called secret archive files --- Detective Joseph Walsh.

And Walsh is no fan of Danny Gallagher's.

In a deposition in a civil case that Danny Gallagher filed against the archdiocese, Walsh expressed doubts about Gallagher's credibility. In a deposition taken Jan. 29, 2015, Walsh testified when he questioned Gallagher about nine factual discrepancies in Gallagher's story, Gallagher usually just sat there and said nothing. Or claimed he was high on drugs. Or told a different story.

None of Walsh's continued questioning of Gallagher was revealed to defense attorneys in two archdiocese sex abuse trials.

The reason why Walsh's testimony is an issue today is because after Lynn's conviction was overturned, D.A. Williams announced he would retry the case. Even though if he's convicted again, Lynn would face no additional jail time because he's already served his minimum sentence.

The case is scheduled to be retried May 1, 2017. Bergstrom today also filed a motion to dismiss the retrial. In that motion, Bergstrom provides a few more details about his interaction with Detective Walsh.

According to his motion to dismiss, Bergstrom interviewed Walsh on Nov 29th. "During that interview, Walsh revealed highly exculpatory and relevant information that was concealed from Lynn in his first trial," Bergstrom wrote. "Unaware of that exculpatory information, Lynn's attorneys had no opportunity to examine Walsh on those issues during the first trial."

According to the motion to dismiss, "In an October 2015 psychiatric evaluation of Gallagher, an independent doctor determined that it was not possible to conclude to a reasonable degree of certainty whether he had been sexually abused because his story was so inconsistent."

In the motion to dismiss, Bergstrom lays out allegations against D.A. Willilams present on Aug. 2nd, when Williams announced that he would retry the case against Msgr. Lynn:

Williams was -- at the time of the decision -- in clear violation of the rules established by both the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission and the Philadelphia Board of Ethics regarding his failure to disclose over $160,000 in gifts.

Williams -- again, at the time of the decision to re-prosecute Lynn -- was also aware that his ex-girlfriend was about to claim responsibility for slashing the tires on several City security vehicles parked near Williams' home -- an incident he initially directed be investigated by his own Office, not the Philadelphia Police.

Williams was aware that he was the subject of an FBI and IRS investigation.

Lynn now moves to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 587 (B).

In a third motion filed today, Bergstrom asked for pre-trial discovery on "all medical records relating to Daniel Gallagher and all correspondence related to those records in the Commonwealth's possession, custody and control."

The records, which are known to contain numerous false and contradictory allegations of sexual abuse made by Gallagher in the past, are "highly relevant" to Gallagher's credibility, Bergstrom wrote.

 

 

 

 

 




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