CALIFORNIA
The Associated Press
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The priest accused of molesting children has “pleaded the fifth.” The judge has stricken his testimony and denials of abuse from the trial record. Three of the priest’s alleged victims are no longer allowed to testify. And the man on trial for beating the priest he says raped him will be limited in what he can tell the jury when called to the witness stand.
Still, after several emergency meetings in chambers, traded barbs of professional misconduct, and defense demands for a mistrial stemming from the priest’s alleged false testimony, Judge David Cena for the first time in nearly a week convened trial on time and without legal rancor Wednesday.
William Lynch, 44, is charged with assaulting retired Catholic priest Jerold Lindner on May 10, 2010, at a Los Gatos home for priests accused and convicted of sexual misconduct. Lynch claims Lindner raped him and his brother during a 1975 camping trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Lynch was 7 years old, and his brother was three years younger at the time. The brothers earlier settled a lawsuit over the allegations for $625,000.
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