CALIFORNIA
OrovilleMR
By Tracey Kaplan
tkaplan@mercurynews.com
mercurynews.com
Posted: 06/20/2012
For someone essentially described as a sexually deviant monster — even by the prosecutor who called him to the stand Wednesday — Father Jerold Lindner looked like an average 67-year-old with horn-rimmed glasses and a weight problem as he shuffled into a San Jose courtroom, all eyes upon him.
Lindner was there to testify that he did nothing to provoke Will Lynch to viciously beat him up two years ago at a Jesuit retirement center in Los Gatos, leaving him bruised and with two small cuts requiring stitches. But it was tough to tell on the first day of Lynch’s assault trial just who the real culprit was — Lynch or the priest.
Lynch chose to go to trial rather than negotiating a plea deal so he could “out” Lindner, who he claims molested him and his brother when they were kids. Even though the Jesuits have doled out millions of dollars to settle cases brought by Lindner’s victims — including the Lynch brothers — the priest was never prosecuted because Lynch and others reported the abuse after the brief window of opportunity set by the statute of limitations ended.
So essentially the priest testified Wednesday that he did nothing 35 years ago or in 2010 to incite what he described as a “vicious” beating at Lynch’s hands. Lynch dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief and sobbed while the priest testified.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.