PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist
Posted: Sunday, November 4, 2012
After the mixed-message end to the criminal trial of the Rev. James J. Brennan and Msgr. William J. Lynn, I speculated that even one conviction would rock both the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the state legal system.
Brennan had been accused of attempted rape and Lynn faced conspiracy charges, but after 13 days of deliberation, a conflicted jury declared a mistrial for Brennan and found Lynn – at the time the nation’s highest-ranking church official ensnared in the sex-abuse scandal – guilty of just one crime: endangering the welfare of a child.
Surely that single verdict, on that felonious charge, would embolden other prosecutors to hold other powerful decision-makers accountable. Even in cases where they were not charged with touching anyone. Even when the official had never met the victim.
Thursday, state Attorney General Linda Kelly charged former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier with putting the school’s image before children’s safety.
Once among the country’s most revered college administrators, Spanier stands accused of lying to a grand jury for saying he never discussed reporting Jerry Sandusky to authorities and did not know about early allegations against the aggressive coach-turned-youth mentor.
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