PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WHTC

Thursday, December 26, 2013

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania appeals court on Thursday overturned the conviction of a high-ranking U.S. Catholic church official convicted last year of covering up a child sex abuse scandal.

Monsignor William Lynn was convicted in June 2012, of endangering the welfare of a child by reassigning a priest with a history of sexual abuse to a Philadelphia parish that was unaware of his past.

That priest, Edward Avery, later pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy in the Philadelphia parish.

Lynn, who was not accused of personally molesting children, was sentenced to a three-to-six-year prison term.

A Superior Court of Pennsylvania appeals panel reversed his conviction on Thursday and ordered Lynn discharged from prison.