Monsignor William Lynn, the first American Catholic Church official to be convicted of covering up clergy sex abuse of children, will be in court Thursday morning with hopes of avoiding a new trial that is currently scheduled for May.

Lynn, 65, was released from prison in August after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated his 2012 conviction. The high court affirmed that jurors were "prejudiced" by hearing hours of evidence about abuse unrelated to Lynn's actions as a supervisor with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

During Lynn's three-month trial, prosecutors presented 21 examples of the Philadelphia archdiocese covering up child sex abuse, some dating back to the 1940s, long before Lynn was in charge of assigning priests.

At the time of his release, Lynn had served nearly three years of a 3-6 year sentence and was slated for parole.

Afterwards, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams vowed to retry Lynn, saying he would "continue to use every available legal option at my disposal to prosecute pedophile priests and those who shield them to the fullest extent of the law."

Lynn's lawyers say that shouldn't happen because favorable evidence from police detective Joseph Walsh — the commonwealth's key witness — was "intentionally concealed" from Lynn during the first trial, violating constitutional law.

Walsh "was a source of numerous pieces of information that would have been exceedingly damaging to the commonwealth's case — none of which was provided to Lynn," wrote defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom in a motion filed last month.

Bergstrom also argued that Lynn is being "singled out" simply because he is a Catholic priest.

There is a gag order barring lawyers from speaking to reporters about the case.

Lynn's lawyers have also filed a motion seeking to limit the evidence at a new trial should Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn Bright deny their motion to dismiss. The aim is to ensure that jurors are not prejudiced against Lynn.

Bergstrom argued that none of the "prior bad acts" — the accounts of those 21 priests — should be admitted as evidence.

"The jury will have its own common-sense knowledge of the dangers of potentially abusive priests. Therefore, it need not be given numerous examples," wrote Bergstrom.

The motion also seeks to keep out details about former Rev. Edward Avery, saying "there is no legal connection" between the two now that Lynn has been acquitted of conspiring with Avery.

Avery, who pleaded guilty to molesting a 10-year-old altar boy at Philadelphia's St. Jerome's parish in 1999, was sentenced to prison.

Lynn, whose job it was to assign priests, moved Avery to St. Jerome's after allegations of sex abuse at another parish came to light years earlier, according to court documents.