CALIFORNIA
Santa Cruz Sentinel

By Robert Salonga and Tracey Kaplan
Mercury News
mercurynews.com

Posted: 07/11/2012

Will Lynch, the man acquitted last week in the beating of a priest he says raped him as child more than three decades ago, will not be tried for a lingering misdemeanor charge that deadlocked a jury, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office announced this afternoon.

Jurors last week cleared Lynch, 44, of felony assault and elder abuse charges and a misdemeanor elder abuse charge in a May 10, 2010 attack in Los Gatos, but could not reach consensus on a misdemeanor assault charge, leaving room for District Attorney Jeff Rosen to re-file.

His office said prosecutors will not take up the case a second time.

“We have heard the jury. We believe it is unlikely that a new jury would render a substantially different decision,” Rosen said in a statement.