PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — After all-day closing arguments on Thursday, the judge in the landmark clergy child sex abuse case was expected to charge the jury on Friday morning, followed by deliberations.
The lead defendant, Monsignor William Lynn, is the first U-S Roman Catholic church official to be charged criminally with child endangerment.
Defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom told jurors like the play and movie ’12 Angry Men,’ this case was about ‘reasonable doubt,’ and it’s an enormous safeguard in the justice system.
He told jurors if they ‘hesitate’ after listening to the judge’s charge on that point, Monsignor Lynn should be acquitted on two counts of child endangerment and conspiracy. Bergstrom argued prosecutors were seeking to convict Lynn for ‘documenting the evil that other men did.’
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