PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
January 28, 2014
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia prosecutors have urged Pennsylvania’s highest court to restore the conviction of a Roman Catholic church official in a high-profile child endangerment case.
Monsignor William Lynn, 63, the former secretary for clergy in Philadelphia, had been convicted of endangering children by transferring an abusive priest in the 1990s to a new parish, where he abused an altar boy.
Lynn was the first U.S. church supervisor charged for his handling of sex abuse complaints against clergy. Prosecutors warned that people across the country are watching to see if the case holds up.
But an appeals court threw out his case last month, saying Lynn should never have been charged because the law only applied to those directly responsible for the child victim. Lynn was freed after 18 months in prison and remains on house arrest at a rectory.
However, prosecutors appealed that Superior Court ruling Monday to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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