PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Digital Journal
By Yukio Strachan
Dec 26, 2013
Philadelphia – In shocking blow to victims of child sexual abuse and their advocates, a Roman Catholic Church senior official who was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse for years had his conviction overturned Thursday by a Pennsylvania appeals court.
“[W]e are compelled to reverse Appellant’s judgment of sentence,” John T. Bender, the president judge of the 15-member appellate court, wrote in the 43-page opinion. “And, as there are no other offenses for which he was convicted in this case, Appellant is ordered discharged.”
And with those words, the 2012 landmark criminal conviction against Monsignor William J. Lynn of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who was found guilty of endangering the welfare of children by assigning a known pedophile priest to a parish where he subsequently raped a child, was dismissed.
“He’s been in prison 18 months for a crime he didn’t commit and couldn’t commit under the law,” said his attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, the Associated Press reported.
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