PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

DAVID GAMBACORTA, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER GAMBACD@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5994
POSTED: Sunday, December 29, 2013

A COMMON PLEAS judge who once excoriated Monsignor William Lynn for shielding “monsters in clerical garb” will now decide if he’ll be able to get out of prison.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina will preside Monday over a bail hearing for Lynn, who on Thursday learned that the Superior Court of Pennsylvania had overturned his 2012 conviction on a felony child-endangerment charge.

The three-judge appeals panel sided with Lynn’s lawyers, who argued that the state child-endangerment law that was in effect while Lynn served as the secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia applied only to parents and guardians of children.

Thomas Bergstrom, one of Lynn’s attorneys, had hoped that Lynn, 62, would be released from a state prison in Wayne County within a day or two.