US church official seeks bail; conviction quashed

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Zee News (India)

Philadelphia: A Roman Catholic church official sentenced to prison for his handling of priest-abuse cases had his conviction overturned, and may soon be back before a judge for bail.

Monsignor William Lynn had served 18 months of his three- to six-year term for child endangerment before the state Superior Court overturned the felony conviction yesterday.

The three-judge panel unanimously rejected arguments that Lynn, the first US church official ever charged or convicted for the handling of clergy-abuse complaints, was legally responsible for an abused boy’s welfare. Defense lawyers have argued that Lynn, 62, was convicted under a law passed years after he left his post at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“It was fundamentally unfair from the day it started,” defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said. “He’s been in prison 18 months for a crime he didn’t commit and couldn’t commit under the law. It’s incredible what happened to this man.”

Defense lawyers hoped for his immediate release from prison, but the appeals court sent the bail issue back to the trial court. That could put Lynn back before Common Pleas Judge M Teresa Sarmina, who had repeatedly denied defense efforts to have the case dropped before trial.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.