PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Priests have been marked with a “bull’s eye” by manipulative accusers who plan to sue the church, a defense lawyer said as Philadelphia’s latest priest-abuse trial opened Monday.
The case involves a single accuser: a policeman’s son-turned-heroin addict who said he was serially raped by two priests and his Catholic school teacher as a 10-year-old altar boy.
His 2009 complaint provided the hook for Philadelphia prosecutors to bring the nation’s first criminal charges against a U.S. church official for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by priests. The man’s accusation was pivotal because the now-24-year-old said he was assaulted in 1999 — within the time limit for prosecutors to file charges and pursue church higher-ups.
The case spawned last year’s landmark conviction of the Rev. William Lynn, who handled priest assignments at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He is now serving three to six years in prison for child endangerment.
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