PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

You would never know it from the media coverage, but the defendants won a significant victory in the high-profile criminal abuse trial in Philadelphia last Thursday.

As the prosecution rested its case, Judge M. Teresa Sarmina dismissed conspiracy charges against the two Catholic cleric defendants, Msgr. William J. Lynn and Rev. James J. Brennan.

Sarmina’s ruling was important, but most journalists buried this episode in their coverage of the trial, giving the ruling only a passing mention.

The media takes a side

For over a year, journalists fell over themselves in trumpeting the alarming claims that Philadelphia Church officials actually intended that children be abused. Now, after nearly two months of trial testimony, it turns out that the prosecution’s outlandish accusations were so ridiculous and baseless that even Judge Sarmina – who has exhibited dubious impartiality during the trial – felt compelled to grant…